The Best of the Best
by TC Stark
Summary: The say that CJ is the best of the best. You want the top of the line weaponry? Go to CJ. That's what the Expendables have been hearing and when it comes time for them to need weapons again they go to CJ and find something out very unexpecting. Gunnar/OC
1. Chapter 1

TC Stark: So I don't know about you but I'm a complete action flic junkie so when I heard about the Expendables I almost squealed. Upon seeing the movie, I loved it. This is my first attempt at an action film, it's rated M for future chapters. Bear with me if it's a little rocky the first chapter. If you could give me your feedback that'd be great, but constructive criticism please, flames are not welcomed. Again, bear with me.

Disclaimer: I only own CJ, nothing else.

Chapter 1

Barney Ross looked over at Lee Christmas, having one thought in mind; _he hates me. _With good reason at that. Looking at his surroundings, the leader of the Expendables was a bit disappointed with himself. It had been months since their excursion in Vilena, the down time something all of them needed. But, they were all men of habit and it was only a matter of time before they were recruited for another mission off the coast of South America. A month before their departure they needed weapons. Unfortunately Barney had to search for a new weapon distributor considering their last proprietor was a miserable person and was put out of his misery by someone he owned money to.

This dilemma led Lee and Barney to where they were tonight. For two months they had been hearing about some guy named CJ, an up and coming weapons distributor who was claimed to have high quality product and was impossible to find. After two months their search lead them to some underground club where everyone was at least 20 years younger than Ross and the music was obnoxious. Lee Christmas grimaced, this club was one of those Industrial clubs where everyone dressed like the living dead and drugs were being passed around. How the hell were they supposed to find CJ there?

Thirty minutes had passed and the two men were getting ready to leave. An expert or not this was not worth it. Any minute more and Barney was sure that his companion would surely commit suicide. One drink and he would save his friend from complete boredom. The two buff men propped themselves up on the stools at the bar, it being impossible to get the bartender's attention. Once finally doing so, they both ordered a hard Jack and Coke, understanding that they needed it.

As the drinks were quickly slammed down in front of them, Barney shook his head, "Sorry for dragging you through this."

"Absolutely disgusting," The English blade specialist shook his own head, "They call this music?"

"Apparently." He chuckled.

"You find it so funny."

"A little."

It wasn't uncommon for the members of the Expendables to rag on each other, certainly the dark haired man did it while Lee was seeing Lacy, "Jesus, how the hell are we suppose to find CJ in this jungle?"

The two men shrugged, Barney bringing the alcoholic beverage to his lips as he heard a voice in his left ear, "Did I hear you mention CJ!"

The two men turned around, both raising their eyebrows as they took in whom had questioned them. In a way they were happy that they weren't both crazy and that this CJ person did actually exist. Who had addressed them now had both of their complete attention on…her. Looking her up and down, Barney observed she couldn't have been any older than 25. She looked like she belonged in this club, though she may had been the most normal looking out of anyone there.

Standing at approximately 5'7", she had what he observed a lean body with some muscle on it. Lee couldn't help but notice her flat stomach and attractive curves were popping out of the skull bra and jean shorts she was wearing. He guessed the knee high combat boots gave her some inches, a perfect combination of a great looking body and some added muscle for protection. He could imagine in such a dangerous scene you'd have to protect yourself against rapists.

Her skin was a nice shade of Olive, giving them the idea that she was perhaps of Sicilian decent. That would make her long dark red hair a result from a bottle, though it looked good all the same. Her bright blue eyes were lined with black, a large grin on her face. The neon light hit her face just right to let a tiny little nose stud shine, Lee personally thinking that was a bit attractive. The girl was no Kat Von D, but he noticed a little collection of very attractive tattoos on her forearms, her back, and her panty line, though none on her chest.

"You know this guy?"

The girl gave them a shinning grin, swigging back a beer as she leaned her back against the bar, "Suuuurrreee, everyone's heard of CJ. Best of the best."

Lee looked over at Barney to raise his eyebrow, "So we've heard."

"Yep," She nodded, crossing her ankles, "Everyone's been going to CJ for their weapons."

"So where can we find this guy?"

This red headed female raised her perfectly shaped eyebrow, that grin never once leaving her lips, "I have a better idea…I can bring you to. If you don't mind?"

The two were reluctant. In a matter of a minute they had met some girl who they had no idea was and for all they knew she could have been lying to them. Or she could have even been stoned, considering all of the acid and LSD they saw being passed around in the club. She saw how skeptical they were, adjusting her body to lean her elbows on the bar counter, "C'mon, you two look like tough men. What's there to worry about?"

Somehow the two men ended up following this young woman whom they didn't even know her name to where CJ was. When they really broke it down, she was right. They were two experienced men who had confidence enough to know they could get out of just about anything alive. So far all it looked like was one tiny woman, though looks could certainly be deceiving. This woman could be a decoy and could possibly be leading them to a house full of men ready to take them on.

The house this girl lead them to looked run down, this girl explaining to them she meant to get it fixed but never got around to doing it. This made Lee believe that perhaps this CJ was laying this woman. Good for him honestly, she was a 20 on a scale to 10. Maybe that's how this guy did his business, sending his girl out to see who looked trusty worthy enough and then fetched them back to the house of business.

Being let into the ok looking house, Lee and Barney looked at each other in wonderment to where this guy was. They certainly didn't want to be held up all night, drinks being shoved into their hands as she placed her hands on her hips, "Place ain't so bad, don't you think?"

"Ughh," Barney looked over at his partner, coughing, "Sure, um, listen, we don't have a lot of time so-"

"So if you can fetch CJ for us that'd be great." Lee cut his friend off, trying to be polite as possible while trying to make a point.

This girl could only just chuckle, taking out a pack of cigarettes, placing one between her lips and lighting it, "Well, boys, since you're so persistent. You're ugh…looking at 'er."

If either of them had heard correctly they would have heard that this 25 year old woman whom they had met at the club previous would be the new up and coming weapons distributor. She saw their shocked expressions, rolling her eyes while taking another pull of her cigarette, "I know, I know, hard to believe, huh?"

"Ughhh…" Lee blinked rapidly, shaking his head in disbelief, "This doesn't make sense…_you're _CJ?"

"The one and only."

Barney looked at his teammate, equally shocked while questioning, "So…is CJ like a codename or something?"

The one claimed to be CJ walked over to an ashtray to put out her cigarette, running her fingers through her red hair, "My parents named me Crystal James, terribly girly name. I feel CJ so much better suites me. So, now that you know that I'm the real deal, you two would be?"

Clearing his throat, the leader of his mercenary group was clearly still shocked as he introduced himself, "Ugh, Barney Ross."

"Lee Christmas."

"Alright!" She grinned as she clapped her hands together, "Now that we're acquainted, let's get down to business. Obviously you guys need weapons?"

Lee nodded, "A lot."

"About how many?"

"There's six of us."

CJ gave a low whistle, nodding her head in thought. She motioned for them to follow her downstairs, revealing a whole entire basement of weaponry. There were all types of guns, assault rifles, and even blades hanging everywhere. There was also a welding table in the corner of the room, a pair of goggles placed on top of the table. The two men stared all around them, it was almost like a kid being in a candy store, being able to look upon everything from an AK 47 to Revolvers.

CJ plopped herself down on the chair near her working desk, taking out a clip board and a pen, "So, feel free to take a look around, touch but don't pull, these babies are loaded."

"Where do you get your product from?"

She grinned up at the muscular older man, looking quite proud of herself, "Funny you ask that. See I went to college in Jersey and took up welding. So when I got into this field, I decided it'd be so much more fun doing it myself. Besides, all that type of business is so messy and dangerous. So much better to do it yourself."

Lee couldn't believe what he was hearing, "This doesn't make sense"

"Well, sir, if you don't feel comfortable we don't need to do business." She stated while putting her clipboard down.

"No, no," Barney intervened, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder, "My friend here is just more of a firm believer of knives then guns."

"Well, if that's the case I can help you out as well."

Lee looked at Barney, knowing that his older friend usually had pretty good judgment of people. If he was trusting of this girl then there must have been something to this girl. Straightening himself, the English man stood still as he let then other man do business, "If we're not allowed to set off the guns how will we know if they really work? You should understand if I'm skeptical considering you don't even have a documented dealer."

Instead of being offended, the young girl just smiled while leaning her chin in the palm of her hand, "I'll cut you a deal. I'll deliver you your order and I'll give you a free trial. If you like the weaponry within that time, you pay. If you don't, then you return them. But, you have 30 days so if 30 days pass and I don't hear anything I'll assume you liked 'em and I demand payment. K?" She grinned.

Barney looked over at each other, as if debating through eye contact. They were getting down to the wire and needed weapons. CJ had gotten such a great reputation. And in their field they could certainly say they made spontaneous decisions and this wouldn't be much different.

"So do we have a deal?"

"Yea…deal."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

It had been a week since Lee Christmas and Barney Ross ran into the one and only CJ. Of course the rest of the crew questioned if they had found someone to buy weapons off, reassuring the crew that they would all be well equipped for their next mission. The part the two of them decided to leave out was the fact that the person making them their weapons was a girl. It would be much more amusing to see the looks on all their faces when she showed up to deliver the order.

Lee couldn't wrap his head around the idea. In all his time of being in his profession he had yet to meet a woman who wasn't some bimbo attached to some big man's arm. Not that he thought a woman couldn't do it; he just wasn't use to it and was very skeptical. In his experience the women he ran into needed saving like that Sandra girl from Vilena that Barney had taken interest in. Although like any Latin woman she had a fire in her, which was probably why she was targeted so much. That and the fact she was the dictators daughter. Now that he thought about it, he wondered what ever happened to her, knowing his friend had developed feelings for her.

Then again his dating life wasn't exactly in order either. It was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon and he was making a visit to Lacy's house. They weren't together. In a way he couldn't bring himself to go back out with her after she had left him. He would never admit it but it hurt that she could have just left him and moved on so quickly with another man after only three months. Still he cared about her and could understand that it might have been difficult not hearing from him for three months. Though he was only keeping his true nature a secret in order to keep her safe. Now that she knew he checked up on her to make sure she was always ok and that that asshole never showed his face around again.

Knocking on her door, he smiled as she greeted him with a hug, "How are you, Lee?"

"Just fine, Lacy," He nodded, observing how nice she looked today, "Just passing through I guess you can say."

Lacy smiled and leaned against the door frame. She never met someone like Lee and no one had ever defended her the way he had. It was foolish of her to throw that relationship away though she was glad he still came around, "Would you like to come in?"

"Ugh, nah, I have to get going to the gym then I'm meeting up with the boys tonight."

"Oh," She replied, looking down at her feet and twiddling her thumb, "Well, then, thank you at least for stopping by. Perhaps one day you can come in?"

Nodding, he smiled weakly while leaning forward to kiss her cheek, "Yea, one day."

As Lee Christmas started his bike and went off, Lacy allowed one single tear to drop down her cheek before going back inside her house. Ross would always tell Lee that Lacy wasn't his type. But, when it came to affairs of the heart, did type ever matter? Sure, he had types when he was younger and went hunting. But, that was petty and he wasn't looking for those one night stands like Tool. All he wanted now was a relationship with Lacy. It would be nice to know he had something to come home to.

The day turned into evening as Barney found himself positioned backwards on a chair, listening to the hum of a tattoo gun run through his ears. Every time he went back to Tool he got another letter added to his tattoo on his back. Tool never understood why the man did this, he had enough tattoos he knew that the process didn't hurt him. Still, he didn't question his friend, rather just did what he did best.

"Well, kid, you're all set." Tool nodded at his work, taking off his glasses, and smoking up his pipe.

Ross stood up, cracking his shoulders back as he took a gander in the mirror, "Looks good, Tool."

"Yea, maybe one day it'll actually be finished."

Barney smirked as he looked over his shoulder, observing Gunnar's snide smirked after his remark. Him and Toll Road were in the middle of playing poker for pennies. It was good to see Gunnar back in shape and actually clean. The two had known each other for a long time and in all honesty it hurt him when he had to cut his large friend out of the group for a while. And even when he had to make the decision to shoot him in order to save Yin Yang, it hurt him, and he was extremely happy to see they could all put it behind them.

"God damn it! You're fucking cheating, Gunnar! I swear!" Toll grunted, throwing his cards down on the table.

Shaking his head, the large Expendable hung his arm over the back of the chair with a smug look on his face, "Nope, pure talent. Learn some skills."

"Stick to card playing."

The two muscular men turned to see Yin Yang and Hale Caesar walked into the hang out area. Even though Yin and Gunnar put their battle behind them. The small man still felt need to stand up for himself, knowing that he was in company with much larger men. They all laughed as Gunnar waved him off and opened up a beer, Tool walking over to open one up as well.

An hour went by as finally Lee Christmas drove his bike in, the gang complete. Ross threw a beer over his way, the get together getting under way. It was always good when they got together, drinking beer, playing cards, and throwing darts. Well, in their cases throwing knives. Tool and Lee never stopped competing against each other even though the sexually active man had retired from on field battle, still claiming he was better.

Half way into a game, they all could hear a car horn beeping, Toll lowering the music down as they all looked at each other, "Now who the hell is that?" Tool asked.

"Whoever it is will be sorry." Gunnar gritted his teeth, reaching into his pocket where he kept a spare gun.

Before everyone was about go into fight mode, Ross stepped in to calm everyone down, "Calm down, it's probably the weapons we ordered."

At this they all seemed to ease, Hale grinning gleefully, "Oooh, baby, there better be something nice in there for me!"

Lee rolled his eyes in amusement, nodding at Tool as he picked up a remote and aimed it towards the garage down. Once pressing the button, the large metal door began to open as bright lights shown in. The lights quickly shut off, not wanting to blind anyone. It was a large Dodge Ram Pickup Truck, obviously old and beat up. The windows were tinted and there was a hood on the trunk so that whatever it was carrying could not be seen.

All the men stood up, waiting as the truck pulled, the door shutting behind. As the engine stopped running, they noticed the door opening. All members except Lee and Ross's jaws dropped as CJ slowly stepped out. She was wearing more than she was that night at the club, though none of that really mattered right now. Her long red hair hung down, her tight abs covered by a black sorest with white stripes, thin straps holding the fabric up. Her cute butt held low rise tight jeans on her hips and the same boots as the last time.

Gunnar could feel sweat beading down his face, my oh my what a woman. Obviously this took all the men by surprised as she greeted Ross with a grin, "Why, hello, sir. Sorry to crash the party."

"Well, if the stuff in that car is good then it's a welcoming sight." Lee commented, folding his arms with a smug smirk.

"And so nice to see you again," She laughed, eying the rest of the crew, "Wow…I feel bad for anyone you guys are fighting. Lots of big men."

Barney chuckled, gesturing to his crew, "CJ, this is Yin Yang, Toll Road, Gunnar Jensen, Hale Caesar, and Tool. Boys, this is CJ. Our weapons distributor."

Stunned, the rest of the crew all looked at each other as Tool swaggered over to the red head, picking her hand up to kiss, "Now, what's a beautiful lady like yourself doing around guns?"

"I enjoy a big firearm," CJ giggled and took her hand away, "Now, if we could get this underway, I'd like to get a move on."

The crazy haired man let out a coo, nudging the veteran as he shook his head. Out of the trunk she grabbed what looked like a huge suitcase, throwing it on a spare table. Unclipping the locks, she flipped open the suitcase to reveal what shined like gold to them. It was a wide variety of weaponry, the huge men flocking over like children to candy that was just broken out of a piñata. CJ just stood off smugly with her arms folded, watching the men all eying the guns satisfied.

She smiled as Hale picked up a Daewoo USAS-12, commenting on how he liked it and was claiming that for his own. She then saw Gunnar pick up the largest machine gun she made, it made sense considering he was the largest one there, "Oh, this is beautiful."

"That's actually my favorite," She grinned while lighting up a cigarette, "That was made with extra care."

The large man smirked over her way as Ross nodded in approval, "Everything looks great here, CJ."

"Well, you know as I said you have 30 days to try everything out so don't worry about paying right now."

Lee looked at all the guns, eying that while there were plenty of the big guns, there were also a lot of small handguns, which would come in handing in quick combat. But, then again blades were always his things so he didn't get as excited about the arrival of guns. CJ then walked over to the English man, taking out a sleeved item out of her pocket. He looked at her before taking the item, grabbing the beautiful handle to take it out of the sleeve, noticing it was a brand new drop-point blade.

She smiled while shrugging, "I didn't get the feeling you liked guns too much."

He nodded, placing the blade back in its sleeve and holding it up to her, "Thank you, CJ, really."

Feeling as though she had accomplished what she had went there for, she saluted Ross off after declining an offer by Hale to stay and play some pool. Biting his lower lip, Gunnar's eyes were glued to her behind as she walked away, turning to his old friend, "You got her number?"

TC Stark: So, thank you for already people reading this story, I wanted to add one more chapter before I slept, so again lemme know how you felt about it! Also on a side note, I know that I labeled this as a Gunnar/OC story and I'm aware Dolph Lundgren is like 52 and CJ is 25. It's a big age difference, don't like it don't read it. Other than that I love open minded fans and again am always open to suggestions!


	3. Chapter 3

TC Stark: So I was really pleasantly surprised to see that already several people have put my story on watch and I've gotten some uplifting reviews. So thank you to those who put my story on alert and to and gordongirl18 for their reviews. And to gordongirl18 I completely agree. I wish there were more of Gunnar in the movie. Thanks guys and I hope I don't disappoint.

Disclaimer: I only own CJ.

Chapter 3

The day before departing for a mission every member of the Expendables tried to take it easy. Once on a job it was always nonstop and none could let their guard down. Some like Hale and Toll spent the day previous working out while Yin and Ross relaxed. No one had heard from Lee since the arrival of their weapons, but there was no doubt that he would show up on time for their departure. One thing could be said about this band of mercenaries; they were all very dedicated to the only life they had come to know.

Today was the type of day that stayed beautifully sunny until long into the night. And on this particularly sunny day Gunnar Jensen found himself taking a load off at one of the local bars. Hopefully they'd be in and out of this little excursion within a week and he never drank on the job. Well, not anymore at least. Not since he had been given a second chance by his good friend. Before then he would always go on missions drunk and under the influence which severely impaired his judgment.

Even though it had been four months since he last used, he still occasionally treated himself to a peaceful beer. It helped him relax and it helped ease him away from the need for drugs. He never drank to the point of intoxication, one beer or two at the most. This was also the first mission he'd be on sober, wondering how things would go. He could only hope that he could perform to his best abilities and not let the pressure of being sober harm his capabilities. He knew everyone was proud of him and knew he was working hard on himself, though he'd like not to show them his struggle.

"Haven't seen you in a while here, Gunnar."

Looking up, he let out a small smile at the senior bartender. Carl had probably been working for this damn bar for the past 20 years, seeing a number of owners come and go. He'd never understand why the old man didn't bother trying to own the bar himself, considering he loved it so much. Sad to say he remembered Carl's first day on the job, the older man seeing the former junkie on a regular basis, never having the courage to cut him off considering his enormous stature.

"Tryin'na cut back, Carl."

While cleaning a glass, he nodded with a smile, "Good to hear. So, what's new, kiddo?"

"Going on vacation."

Whenever Gunnar was about to go on a job, he always told Carl he was going on vacation. He had no idea what the frequent customer did for a living, probably something that put his huge muscles to use. Still, he knew when he was 'going on vacation' that he wouldn't be seeing much of Gunnar for a while. This was the type of bar where people went to escape everyday problems, they seemed to trust Carl and enjoy his company. Maybe that was partially reason for him staying at this particular bar for so long; he enjoyed human interaction.

"Well, fancy seeing you here, big guy."

Turning around, Gunnar raised his eyebrow, "Well, this is no place for you."

CJ laughed as she turned to Carl to order a Samuel Adams, plopping down on the stood next to him. He eyed her up and down, noticing her hair was up in a ponytail today, exposing her beautiful neckline. Grabbing the collar of his button down shirt, he pulled it off of his growingly hot neck as Carl placed her beer down in front of her, "Well, I happen to disagree. You see, I like beer, Carl sells beer. So all in all I do think this is a place for me."

The older man laughed, "I stand corrected then. I was simply saying you're a bit younger than the normal crowd who comes in here?"

"Are you calling yourself old then?"

"Well, I do have a few years on you."

Smirking, she took a swig of her beer amused. She would say that it was just turning into sunset when she walked into the bar. Places like these were great for a nice relaxing drink, a place to unwind and stay inside your own head. Clubs like the one Ross and Lee had met her at were for more serious partying and more didn't start until much later into the night.

Shifting her body to face him, she crossed her legs and leaned closer with a lowered voice, "I gotta ask ya…what do all you need all those weapons for?"

She was grinning ear to ear in curiosity, Gunnar shaking his finger at her, "That's classified information there, darling."

"No fun."

It was odd how cute he found her pouting, going to take another sip of his beer. God younger men these days were so damn lucky. The women they had for their availability were outstanding; they didn't know how great they had it. The way women dressed and presented themselves was a completely different ballgame then when he was that age; the girls these days just oozing sexuality. They also weren't afraid to take charge, women no longer relying on men to be their knight and shining armor.

Gunnar's beer was now running on empty, CJ finishing her own as she went to order another, "Lemme get this round."

Carl was about to turn around to get two, the other man stopping him as the female raised one of her eyebrows, "I cut it off at two. Thanks for the offer though."

"How long you been clean?" CJ asked while bringing the newly opened beer to her lips.

Blinking his eyes, he looked at her suspiciously. He had no idea how she could catch only him so easily, was he that much of an open book. Mouth hanging open a little, he composed himself while looking forward. Running his large hand through his blonde hair, he let out a big sigh, "Four months."

CJ nodded, looking forward herself, "Six years."

"You're lying."

"I don't lie."

Gunnar looked over her skeptically, he wouldn't be lied to like that, he wasn't stupid, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"Too young to already be recovering from a drug problem."

"Oh, Gunnar, don't be silly," She looked over at him, "Drugs know no age."

As the news began to sink in, Gunnar looked at her a very different way. He would never have imagined recovering drug addicts could look like her. In his experience most of them looked like him, older, worn down, and lines on their faces. CJ was young, had a great personality, and didn't have a line anywhere on that gorgeous body of hers. His eyes then began to roam, trying to see if he could find any track marks, though if there were any her chain tattoo around her forearm covered it.

Slowly accepting this information, he began to ask questions, "So…six years, huh? Any ugh, advice for me?"

CJ gave him a dazzling smile, "It'll get worse before it gets better. Four months in, you're still fresh. The more time that passes the more you're gonna realize that the thing you did for so long is not gonna be there anymore. Then you'll freak. But, hey, remember one thing. It's _your _life. Don't you wanna be in control of your life? You can't let drugs take control of your life, they'll destroy. And none of us are indestructible. In the end…we're all just expendable."

Gunnar took in her words, thinking about what she had said. He should have learned that lesson being part of the Expendables. His life was all about being expendable. For too long he had let drugs take over his life, not fully living out who he was. It was almost nice to think he was still alive to realize something like that.

"What made you decide to quit?"

His question made her let out a low laugh, bowing her head down. He wasn't sure if his question had offended her, he would surely take it back if it did. Though without fail she turned to him with that everlasting smile of hers. She then stood up, lifting up her shirt and lowering her shorts slightly. On her right hipbone was a small tattoo of a berretta, a simplified tattoo at that. Suddenly his heart began to pound as she grabbed his hand to guide his fingers along the tattoo. He was 52 and had been with plenty of women in his lifetime, why was he nervous about feeling her hip?

"Feel that?"

Raising his eyebrow, he pressed his fingertips harder, feeling scar tissue. They looked at each other as she laughed even though it wasn't funny, "I was 19 and had just taken some meth while waiting for my boyfriend at the time to come home. When he did I thought I smelt perfume. For all I know it could have been his cologne, I was very irrational. We fought, like we always did; with fists. Midway, I went into the kitchen to get one of the steak knife I had lying around. Safe to say, he got the knife, gave me this beautiful scar, annndddd the kicker is now I can't have kids."

Blinking, the tall mercenary murmured, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Hey," She laughed, "Don't feel bad for me, I certainly don't. If life has taught me one thing you can't let it get you down. You pick yourself up and keep going."

"Well, hey then, I tried to kill my best friend."

"Drugs make ya do a lot of crazy things."

He coughed, "That's for damn sure," At that point, he unbuttoned his shirt just enough to allow him to expose his bullet wound that Ross had given him, "That was my breaking point."

As her fingertips reached out to touch the wound, he could feel her hot breath against his exposed skin, pulling back gently to button his shirt back up, "You must have pissed someone off."

Gunnar laughed, that was for sure. God how stupid he was to have betrayed his friend like that and even to go as far to almost kill him and Yin. Poor little guy, he had almost forced a large metal pipe through the Asian's stomach. Thank God everyone was very forgiving or else he didn't know what he would have done, "You can say that."

Taking a look at her cell phone, she smiled over to the man while patting his arm, "Well, I hope you guys enjoy what you've ordered. Be safe."

"You too, where you going?"

"Hmm…probably some club." She shrugged.

"Well, then you watch out yourself."

CJ chuckled, cracking her knuckles, "Oh, sweetheart, I'm more than capable of handling myself. But, I appreciate the concern and I'll catch you later."

Gunnar nodded the woman off, his eyes following her out the door before turning back around. Looking at his own phone he sighed, it was getting late and their flight was early. He wanted to get a good night's sleep before the mission, placing enough money down on the table for his two drinks and a good tip. As he then grabbed his denim vest, he turned it around to look at the skull logo on the back of it. He was an Expendable and in the end damn proud to be one.


	4. Chapter 4

TC Stark: Thank you once again for the great reviews! I'm so glad that people are liking this story and I hope I don't disappoint. Just a quick not, the opening lines in italics is from a song by Alice in Chains called Rooster. Quick back story, one of the members of the band had a family member in Vietnam so they sat him down to talk to him about his experience in the war and wrote this song as a result. It's a wonderful song, you should all hear it. It's also called Rooster because the Vietnamese had no word for the Eagles on the soldiers uniforms so then thus called them 'roosters'. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ, wish I owned the Expendables, that'd be awesome lol

Chapter 4

_Ain't found a way to kill me yet,_

_Eyes burn with stinging sweat,_

_Seems every path leads me to nowhere,_

_Wife and kids household pet,_

_Army green was no safe bet,_

_The bullets scream to me from somewhere._

It was hot. Very hot. Then again it was always hot in South America. He guessed that's why most of the habitants were much darker than their neighbors up north. There was something almost admirable about it. The way they worked out in the sun all day long, sweat beating down their strong skin; completely living life by one's hands. In his country, people would have to wear sun screen and hats to even think about being out in this weather. Not these people though; they took on the sun with no fear of skin cancer or anything else.

Barney Ross loved South America. He loved the people and he loved the continent. It was beautiful how happy people could be with so little worldly possessions. Closing his eyes, he thought back to Sandra. Her country was in ruins and yet she was still positive that things would get better. She walked around town with confidence rather than hiding in the shadows. He was impressed by her, so beautiful yet so strong inside.

The Expendables were just leaving their latest job. Like he had hoped it was short and sweet, a week to free the hostages that needed to be freed and they were out of there. They'd be going back to America and they would be getting paid. Looking around, he knew why they all did what they did. It wasn't the money; it was never about the money. It was about the only world any of them ever knew. God he would love to trade a war field for a work field; but when it really came down to it this was what he did best and it was all he ever knew since he was barely legal and shipped out to Vietnam.

_It was his first time Ross had tasted his own blood. It was also the first time he tasted someone else's blood. Standing in a field, he looked all around him. When they had sent him out he had flashes of running into this country, saving lives and even maybe going home to a city filled of people celebrating their return. What he found was something he couldn't imagine. In this country…no one was shouting your name. Men he had considered friends he had seen get their heads blown off, their legs if they were lucky. He stood in a field of dead bodies. Nothing was safe in this war…women, children, animals. Everywhere you turned was another opportunity to be killed._

After Vietnam he made a promise that if he were to use what God had given him at least he was going to do it on his own terms. Not by being recruited to go to a country where he didn't even know what he was fighting for. No doubt it had been a long life, seeing plenty of friends come and go. Looking back on it all, he could at least justify it all that when he lost his friends outside of Vietnam he knew at least why.

"I'm telling you, this baby danced beautifully," Hale spoke out, rubbing the large machinery that sat on his lap, "I hope you saved that girl's number, I'll be needing more of these."

"You wouldn't think these are home grown." Toll Road commented.

Ross and Lee eyed each other, smirking. He knew Christmas was a bit brash and wouldn't want to admit that he actually was impressed by CJ's work. The machines held up and handled beautiful with accuracy and precision. He knew for a fact the large guns Gunnar and Hale equipped themselves with made them happy, the hand guns Yin grabbed were quick and easy to handle, the demolition equipment she had thrown in made Toll happy, the knife she had crafted went to good use with Lee, and Ross was just happy to have help to save his ass when the time came for it.

When the plane landed in America the boys split up on their own paths to have some down time after their little excursion. They were of course paid handsomely, everyone taking their share to use it on whatever they so pleased. Yin Yang would always ask for a raise and he would never give it to him. Sure, he was smaller than everyone else, but everyone put just as much effort in and everyone's life was on the line when it came down to it. In the end, Yin knew that and just essentially wanted to bust some balls.

Although the personalities in the group were vast, they all shared several things in common. They were all going to work every day with the thought that they may not make it out alive. Although it was great knowing you were part of a team that had your back. Each member only knew of their lives in the Expendables. He had no idea who they were outside of the gang, if any of them had families, and if their names were even really their names. It seemed to anyone that names like Tool and Yin Yang were farfetched, but to him that's who these people were, and he was fine with just that thought.

Lee Christmas was someone who kept his life very private or at least tried to from all parties. He tried to keep his life with Lacy away from the Expendables and he tried to keep his life with the Expendables away from Lacy. In the end he was essentially keeping the woman who had captured him away. It wasn't meant to be harmful; he was trying to protect her. This was a hard life and if any enemy found out that he was involved with someone they could become an easy target.

Ross would tell him that she wasn't his type, but it came down to it he wouldn't know what the blade expert's type was. Ross had never seen Lee with a woman or what kind he sought after. All in all the opinion was made by just knowing Lee. And even if he had a type, all of that logic was thrown out the window when confronted with a truly amazing person.

Today he found himself actually inside Lacy's house. Looking around, he sighed. He hadn't been inside these four walls since they had made love right before he left for Somalia. The Englishman shut his eyes and took in a deep breath, remembering it was like yesterday. The way their bodies moved together, her hands dancing around his muscles, the warm sensation of being inside her. It would have been easy to just remember memories like those and jump back into her life, but other memories stopped him in his tracks.

A cup of coffee was gently placed in his hands, giving her a thankful smile as he brought the hot beverage up to his lips. She knew just how he liked it; black with one sugar. She smiled as well, grateful that he had even agreed to come back into her home. Running his hand over his bald head, he sighed, "So…ugh, how's your sister?"

"Oh, good," Lacy nodded hurriedly, "Expecting her second child. A girl."

"Beautiful."

The room fell silent again. It's like they didn't know how to talk to each other anymore. It was terrible to think about considering all the times they had made each other laugh. It bothered him as he placed the cup down, standing up. Her eyes followed him with worry, afraid that he might just walk out. She was pleasantly surprised when he had went to position himself on the couch next to her, "God, can we talk anymore?"

"I'm sorry…it's hard." She frowned.

Lee shook his head, tucking a strand of her beautiful hair behind her ear, "It's both our faults…"

Shaking her head, the beautiful woman touched her chest with her hand, "I shouldn't have just abandoned you like that."

"You didn't know when I was coming back," He placed his elbows on his knees, holding his hands together, "I didn't know sometimes if I was coming back."

Lacy looked over at him, reaching out to touch his cheek with a sigh. She should have known upon meeting him that what he did for a living somewhat involved using that muscle of his. And he did care about her, that she saw. And he was kind and never used his strength over her like Paul had. She had never been hit by a man and when she had despite how things ended she knew she had to call Lee. How great he was to come to her aid regardless of how things panned out.

Smiling softly, she retracted her hand, "Thank you for coming by, Lee."

He nodded, leaning over to kiss her cheek, lingering near her face for a second. The two breathed deeply next to each other, Lacy biting her lip as he reluctantly pulled back. He knew he wanted her, he wanted to kiss her. It took a real man to admit that he was afraid that if he did kiss her he'd be hurt all over again. So instead he stood up, promising to call. Like before she watched him swing his legs over his bike and ride off. She had no idea what was happening between them, but God she was glad that he was back in her life.

TC Stark: So, tell me what you think? I'm not planning on making this also a Lacy/Lee story, but I feel since Lee is a main character of the movie I feel it's important to at least include this story in my story. Also, I hope no one was offended by my Vietnam background story, a lot of innocent people lost their lives in that war and I certainly am not putting that war down. So, please stay tuned to the next chapter and review ^^


	5. Chapter 5

TC Stark: I am truly touched to see so many people have put this story on watch. Thank you guys, you only make me wanna be a better writer. Sorry to gordongirl18 for there being no Gunnar in the last chapter, but he's in this chapter for sure ^^ Once again thank you guys and if you ever have any ideas let me know! And keep reading!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ!

Chapter 5

"Do you remember where she lived?"

Ross chuckled as him and Lee sat in Ross's truck, driving to make their overdo payment to CJ. It had been more than thirty days and no contact from the younger girl. It was only polite to give her the money she deserved after personally making all those weapons for them. Perhaps she was busy or maybe she had even forgotten that 30 days had passed? Whatever the reason was, they were men of their words.

They had only been to her house that one time while ordering the weapons, so this travel was all based on memory. When they had gone to the house previously it was in the middle of the night, things looking so much differently under the daylight sun. It wasn't that hard though considering her house was really the only cruddy looking house on the block. Ross guessed that she didn't put much effort into her house to not bring much attention to it so as not to expose what she really did for work. She certainly wasn't a messy person considering all the effort she put into her outfits.

Pulling the truck into the small driveway, Ross shut off the engine and stepped out of the vehicle. Lee was right behind him as they walked over to the front door. They had no idea whether or not she was home considering they didn't see any cars parked outside. Still, it was a risk they were willing to take considering they didn't have much to do that evening.

There was no answer after the first three knocks, safe to say she probably wasn't home. The two men looked at each other, shrugging as Lee reached over for one final knock. Upon this forceful knock, he noticed it pushed the door open slightly. Raising his eyebrow, he gently pushed the door forward. The living room was empty, the stench of a freshly smoked cigarette lingering in the air. Slowly they entered the room, their hands both looming over the guns hanging from their belts.

"CJ?" Ross called cautiously, both splitting up to look around.

"In the basement!"

What a relief. Relaxing their bodies, Lee and Ross made their way downstairs to the basement. Sparks were flying as they observed CJ busy at work welding something, a torch in her hand and protective goggles over her eyes. The sounds of torching metal ran through their ears, a small radio on the floor playing what sounded like old 90s grunge music. Her hair was pulled back to work and she was wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts.

Lee raised an eyebrow as he strolled slowly above her, hands behind his back. He observed that she was making what looked to be a small hand gun. He nodded to himself as she shut off the blow torch, set down her tools and reached over to shut off her radio. Once the music stopped, CJ looked up at the muscular men with a grin, "Why, hello there, surprise to see you guys."

"Well, it's been thirty days." Ross chuckled, folding his arms over his chest.

CJ smirked and lifted her goggles on top of her head, "Wow, good men. I'm impressed. I gotta admit, I've been a little lazy the past week or so, I'm not sure what day it is?"

"Tuesday." Lee answered for her.

"Ah," She laughed and stood up, "Everything work out?"

"Yea, great in fact."

Lighting up a cigarette, the welder walked over to her business table where all her paper work rested. She pushed a couple of things aside before coming to their order, sorting out the details. She counted out the money they gave her to make sure it was all there, grinning when she found out it was. It was always nice doing business with people who were honest and knew how to pay her correctly. It wasn't often she got screwed over by people who thought they didn't have to pay her fully since she was a girl, instantly dropping them as clients after making sure she got the rest of her money.

As she took another pull of her cigarette, the younger man stated, "I'll ugh, be needing some more bullets now that I think of it."

She nodded and pointed to the supply drawer under the wall of weapons, "Second draw, all the different types of bullets are labeled, take what you need."

"How much?"

"On me."

"That's ridiculous."

"Don't be silly," She waved off, leaning herself against her work table, "Consider it a gift. Just promise me you'll keep me in your phone next time you need weapons."

Ross laughed as she winked, "You got it."

"Awesome! Now that I have you here…" She started as she scratched the side of her stomach, "That ugh…guy…the one with the wild hair-"

"Tool."

"Yea, him. He does tattoos right?"

Barney nodded, "Did all of mine."

Lee and Ross winded up taking CJ back to Tool's place later on that evening. She had expressed interest in being tattooed, especially after seeing the work he had done on the dark haired mercenary. Tool was always up for tattooing at a moment's notice, especially if it was for a beautiful lady. And he doubted that the retired Expendable would make her pay, insisting she leave her wallet at home.

Tool stood up as the three stepped into the room, a large grin on his face, "Well, now, nice to see you again."

"Charmed." She grinned as once again he took her hand to kiss it.

Lee rolled his eyes as he went over to the refrigerator to grab a beer, Tool propping himself against his work table, "So, what can I do for such a lovely woman as yourself?"

Obviously this guy was relentless as amusedly she rolled her eyes, "I need you to ink me."

Tattoos had always been a passion for Tool and it wasn't everyday he found a woman who also shared his same passion. For the most part the ink on her body was well done, although he knew he could do much better. People these days didn't know what they were doing; people didn't spend as much time as they should perfecting their art.

CJ explained to the ladies man that the design she was interested in was a small tribal cross about three inches tall on the back of her neck. For the longest time the only person he inked was Ross and that had only been recently a letter every once in a while. So for another person to walk through his doors with a request to be inked, he jumped on the chance to do so.

It only took seconds for him to draw up a simple design, the girl approving as she went to go sit backwards on his car. She tied her hair up in a bun, leaving the skin on the back of her neck exposed. Ross and Lee took the liberty of propping themselves on the couch in the corner, turning the small TV they had on. Tool was very professional when it came down to it, shaving off the tiny hairs on the back of her neck and stenciling the design onto her skin.

CJ heard the sound of the tattoo gun run through her ears, feeling the wild haired man sit behind her on a spare chair. His gloved hands touched her skin as she felt the gun beginning to prick the back of her neck. After about four tattoos already gracing her body, she barely felt the needle rapidly digging into her skin.

"You know I'd be happy to tattoo you anytime." Tool chuckled.

Rolling her eyes, she laughed, "Let's concentrate on the one you're doing now, shall we?"

"Whatever you say, beautiful."

The other two men laughed amusedly, bringing their beers up to their lips. It was nice to just relax; a couple of guys hanging out, watching TV, and listening to one tattoo an incredibly attractive female. About 30 minutes had passed and the tattoo was almost finished. Since he was a professional, he didn't rush through the process. Tattooing was an art form and no art should be rushed. So he took his time, which his client didn't mind considering most of the tattoos she had were done by friends just learning how to ink.

In the middle of the tattooing process, the door opened as another member of the gang walked in. CJ's blue eyes smiled as Gunnar walked into the room, "You boys sure been coming around more since Vilena." Tool chuckled, his eyes staying on her neck.

"Well, what do we have here?" He asked while strolling behind CJ to admire the work his friend was doing, "Good job, Tool. Tool here has found his calling in life. He did my ink." He lifted up his sleeve to show the skull tattoo on his upper bicep.

"Oooh, sexy." CJ snickered as Gunnar waved her off and walked over to grab himself a beer, patting his two other companions on the back.

"Is this how you lure your women in, Tool?"

All the men in the room snickered at this question, him just smirking triumphantly, "I don't need no gimmick like that, baby, to get them running to me."

"Oh, you so entertain me."

"I don't know where you find these girls, Tool." Gunnar said over his shoulder, taking a swig of his beer.

"Anywhere I can."

CJ laughed once more as she pulled her half empty pack of Marlboro Menthols and placed one in between her lips. Lighting it up, she leaned her elbow on top of the backrest of the chair while being tattooed. She observed that it itched only for a second; wanting nothing more but to reach back and scratch it. But, then again that would ruin her design and probably piss the artist off.

Blowing out smoke, she was taken back a little as she felt the cigarette being gently yanked from her fingertips, Tool taking a pull. She offered him one of his own, him declining as he was trying to cut down. She shrugged while taking her cigarette back and breathing in the tarred smoke. As the smoke seeped out of her nostrils, she shifted her gaze over to observe that the Expendables were watching the game. Boys would always be boys, "Don't you guys wanna watch some cartoons? Perhaps Looney Tunes? Something around your eras."

Lee broke out in hysterical laughter, clutching his side, "Oh, she got you good."

"Easy, junior." Ross eyed the Englishman, though secretly amused.

"Maybe I should put my initials under this tattoo."

"I'll kill ya, Tool."

The two laughed as he finished up the final touches, wiping gently at the sensitive skin. He then handed her a hand mirror to observe his work reflecting off the big mirror. Her huge smile was proof enough that he had down a good job, pulling the gloves off his hands. She pranced over to the boys, showing off her fresh ink as they admired their friend's work. She then walked back to admire her fresh ink through the hand mirror and big mirror, "I haveta say this is the best looking one on my body."

A look of satisfaction was painted on his face, the others rolling their eyes at his now inflated ego. After seeing death and destruction for so long, it was nice for the retiree to just do something enjoyable. The best decision of his life was trading his semi-automatic gun for his tattoo gun. Although he did enjoy the company of his companions who had decided to not hang their weapons up yet.

After a quick beer, CJ strolled over to the couch, "Well, boys, this has been fun, but I have a lot of work to do at home. Is there anyway one of you guys could give me a ride home?"

The three looked at each other. Ross was now on his third beer and Lee on his fourth. Considering he had only had one beer about a half hour ago, Gunnar offered kindly, "I'll drive ya home."

"Splendid."

Gunnar pulled himself from his position on the couch, one hand holding his belt and the other clasping onto his friend's hands. After bidding Tool a goodbye, he led the welder outside where his bike rested. It was a beautiful 2003 Harley Davidson XL1200 Custom Anniversary Edition in a lovely silver color. Of course he had the Expendables logo on it, wearing that logo with pride. A certain smug grin graced his own lips as he watched CJ circle his baby in admiration. The way her fingertips just lightly ran over the bike was enough to drive him crazy.

After feeling up his bike, she turned to him joyfully, "She's beautiful."

"Paid a pretty penny for her."

Referring to the slight ding on the right side, she stated, "Some other day when I have time I can fix that for you."

Nodding, the large man went to put his helmet on; handing her the spare. Her red hair hung out of the back of her helmet, positioning herself behind him on the bike. Once feeling her arms gently wrap around his strong waist, he revved up and took off. CJ was not the type to be afraid of speed, Gunnar not being afraid of what she couldn't handle.

She directed him through the streets, her left hand staying on his waist as the other touched his shoulder, "Ever road one of these?"

"A couple of times," She shouted, the wind blowing pass them, "I wasn't very good."

"It takes some practice."

"It's a lot more fun this way."

And it was a lot more fun. It was always fun having a beautiful lady on your bike, especially one who knew the mechanics of one. Normally Gunnar drove his pickup not wanting to ruin his treasure. The only time he really did ride the bike was when the Expendables decided to take a leisurely ride. Today was so beautiful he just couldn't help it though.

As they passed a group of what looked like thin looking boys, CJ pointed to one of them, "That fucker owes me money!"

Gunnar laughed and kept driving, "That's your problem."

"Oh, what's the point of being around the arms of a strong man if he won't beat someone up for me?" She asked in a mockingly dramatic fashion, feigning her hand against her forehead; causing him to laugh loudly.

The rest of the ride was silent. A contempt type of silent. Just two people enjoying the freedom and thrill of a bike ride. When they did arrive at her house, he kept the engine running as she hopped off his bike. He didn't make an attempt to kiss her cheek; she wasn't that type of girl. Instead he nodded her off, her large grin thanking him. Making sure she was safely in her house, he focused his attention on the road and took off.


	6. Chapter 6

TC Stark: So, again thank you to all who have taken the time out to read this story, it's really heart warming to me, I really appreciate it. I'm glad I do have time to get these chapters out so rapidly considering school has started back up for me and I work often. Though I must admit I'm obsessed, I can't stop thinking about new things for this story. A great plot idea popped into my head that I'll be administering in the next few chapters so please stay tuned. Again if you have any suggestions lemme know! Love you all!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 6

Nothing like beer and wings among friends. Two weeks after Tool had tattooed a cross on the back of CJ's neck, the boys decided to take themselves out to the local wing bar. Ross couldn't make it out that evening, claiming having something to do at home. Tool wasn't there either, on a date with some new hot young blonde girl. So Gunnar, Lee, Yin, Hale, and Toll decided to take their asses out to enjoy 25 cent wing night at this underground bar.

Hale greedily piled the fresh basket of wings set down on the table, Toll snatching the basket from him, "They're 25 cents! Learn to fucking share!"

The dark skinned man shrugged as he happily dug his teeth into the buffalo wings smothered with bleu cheese dressing. Lee reached over to grab some fries to place on his plate, a young waitress setting down another round of beers. Hale's eyes followed the waitress as she walked away, his white teeth grinning largely.

Toll Road gave out a small cough as some of the buffalo sauce got caught in the back of his throat, "What's wrong, too hot for you? This is nothing compared to my wife's cooking."

Gunnar rolled his eyes, "Yin, we all know you're not married."

"One day I will have one…and she'll make hotter food then this."

"Good luck with that." Lee snickered, taking a gulp of beer.

Yin shot the Brit a glare as the rest laughed, Hale calling for more wings. This was the type of place where men like them went to hang out all the time. The lights were dim, people were playing all types of games like pool and darts, the sports were on along with a jukebox, and hot women serving them their drinks and food. When the boys decided to go out together it was usually this place they visited, finding it relaxing.

"So, when are we heading out again?" Toll asked Lee mid-chew.

Shrugging, he stuck one of the fries into some hot sauce before shoving it in his own mouth, "We haven't gotten any offers yet. Don't tell me you spent all your money already!"

"Are you crazy!"

Gunnar shoved one of the boneless wings in his own mouth, leaning his elbows on the table, "Well, wherever we go I hope it's a little more challenging than the last excursion we went on."

"I agree," Hale nodded, "That was a little too easy. We were in and out within a week."

"Do you want to get killed?"

"No," Gunnar responded over to his bald friend, "Just wanna get the blood pumping."

All the boys had the same thought as they watched another beautiful waitress walk pass them with her skirt hiked up to her ass. The owner of this joint paid these young girls handsomely, knowing most of them were just paying their ways through college. Plus the boys always made sure to leave a fat tip, knowing they had to put up with the stares and taunts of men. It wasn't a safe job, but a well paying one at that.

As Gunnar threw another naked bone into the bowl of eaten wings, he chuckled at himself. Being such a large man he could go through fifty of these and still not be full. He then looked over at Yin who had about seven and was struggling to finish more. He guessed that's how the small man stayed so agile; he really was great when it came to martial arts.

A group of younger men suddenly walked in, speaking very loudly and annoying the men who were just trying to have a good time. They were very loud in fact, Gunnar having no choice but to overhear what they were saying, "Oh, shit! Look how many hot mamas are in here!"

"I'm taking onna them home with me tonight."

"Hopefully she bites."

"Hey, bro, I'm trying to get a gun, y'know take care of some bitch who did me dirty. I heard this CJ is pretty good."

Raising an eyebrow, Gunnar then began to really pay attention, letting his friend's conversation sink into the background. His eyes shifted over his shoulder, trying to observe what they looked like. They seemed around her age, young men with very young complexions with enough gel in their hair to pop a balloon. They were all staring hungrily at the young waitresses, drinking beers and going to play pool.

He watched one shake his head at the friend with the gun proposal, "I dunno about that. Don't tell her you know me, I owe her money."

"Eh," The friend waved off, "I ain't afraid of no woman. Hence why I'm getting a gun."

"I dunno, bro, she put Terrence in the hospital when he told her he wasn't paying."

"Yo, Gunnar!"

Snapping out of his fixation on these boys, he turned around to see the rest of his crew raising their eyebrows at him. Instead he just chuckled, making some excuse that he was looking at some waitress that caught his attention. They all shrugged as another order of chili cheese fries and wings were placed down on the table. By the end of this night all of their stomachs would become a battlefield.

Midway into their wing fest, Yin decided to excuse himself to use the bathroom. By now Hale was flirting with one of the waitresses, Toll and Lee concentrated on the game, and Gunnar still fixated on the group of young men.

After a minute or two passed, Yin made his way out of the bathroom. This time everyone's attention was on the group of young men as they heard them all make comments under their breath about his height. Yin wasn't deaf nor was he stupid and he certainly heard the racist comments they were making. Turning around with a twisted look on his face, he asked them, "Can I help you, young man?"

The group of men snickered, little comments making fun of his accent under their breaths as one tried to compose himself, "Nah, nah, we cool."

His eyebrows furrowed even more, going to turn around before he heard one of them snicker, "Fucking smurf."

"I think you should all learn some manners!" By now Yin was fed up, not one to let anyone put him down just because of his height and certainly not taking his nationality being bashed.

"Keep on walking, Happy Feet!"

"Fucking panda," One laughed, puffing his chest out, "What you gonna do? Huh? You think you stand a chance against us?"

Lee knew full well Yin could take all of the boys out in a heartbeat, seeing the fury in his eyes. He was an expert martial arts fighter and knew how to win against a group of people larger than him. Still, he wouldn't stay quiet while his friend was mocked by a group of idiots. So he placed his beer down and walked over to the group nonchalantly, "Well, boys, what seems to be the problem?"

"What is this? A fucking United Nations meeting?"

Now it was his time to be irritated, "You're all making yourselves look very ignorant."

One of the boys who was only about an inch taller than Lee got into his face, raising his eyebrow cockily, "Oh yea, real big men. What you gonna do?"

Now the Expendables knew that anyone going up against Lee and Yin would wind up being sorry. The rest looked at each other, knowing their friends were more than capable of handling themselves. Although, none of them were in the mood for putting twenty-something-year-olds in the hospital, just perhaps scare them a little.

One by one the rest of the group walked over to their friends' aid. And one by one the boys' eyes widened by the increasing stature of the men coming to the other's aid. First Toll Road, then Hale, and then Gunnar. The tall stature towered over the group of boys, their mouths gaping open. Raising an eyebrow, he chuckled with his hands on his hips, "What's wrong now, boys?"

"Uh…n-nothing…" One of them gulped, taking a step back.

As Hale grinned over at Toll, they heard another whisper to his friend, "I think we'd better go."

"I'd listen to him if I were you."

Needless to say they did.

TC Stark: So if this was a tad shorter than the last I apologize, but I thought it better to keep short and sweet. Please review! ^^


	7. Chapter 7

TC Stark: Reviews make me so fucking happy! Lol thanks guys for everything, I feel like you are all so passionate about this story; just as much as I am. Sorry I didn't get around to adding yesterday, I had work early and went out to a friend's party last night. So, I hope you all enjoy and please continue to read cause ideas just keep flooding into my head for this story

Disclaimer: I only own CJ.

Chapter 7

CJ was reading _The Republic _by Plato when Gunnar walked into her house. Ross had sent the big man there to order more weaponry for them. There was no real need for them at the moment other than just to have protection. The other men were out doing their own thing that day, Gunnar receiving a call from the veteran and agreeing since he in fact had absolutely nothing to do that day. It was a funny sight to him seeing her curled up in a large arm chair in a black spaghetti strapped tank top and zebra printed pajama shorts reading Plato. Her response; _just because I'm hot doesn't mean I'm not smart._

Bookmarking her place in the book, she set it down while getting up, "What brings you around, Mr. Jensen?"

"Just getting some product."

The red head lit up a cigarette, a smirk on her lips, "I know; Ross called me and placed his order."

Gunnar raised an eyebrow, stopping for a moment in thought, "Then why the hell did he send me here?"

A mocked hurt look formed onto her face, holding her hand over her heart, "Gunnar, I'm so hurt."

"Oh, shut up."

The two laughed as she offered him a seat on her plain looking couch, asking him if he cared for some coffee. Gunnar held his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees while he heard the younger girl rummage through her kitchen. There was an old looking television sitting on the floor across the room, but he didn't feel like turning the tube on. It looked like something from the 1950s where all they had were three channels.

A couple of minutes later, CJ reentered the living room with two cups of black coffee. She then placed a small container of milk in front of him along with a small cup of sugar with a spoon. She curled herself up on the other end of the couch, pulling in the last of her cigarette before stubbing it out. He smiled thankfully while pouring in a little of the milk and a full spoonful of sugar. He observed how light and sweet she was making her own coffee.

"Do you ever sleep?"

CJ tapped her forefinger against her lips thoughtfully, looking back at him with a smile, "Only on weekends."

Gunnar laughed while bringing the cup of hot coffee to his lips. It was good coffee. He began to think about the incident that occurred a couple of days ago at the bar. The thought of hearing one of those boys talk about owing her money ran through his mind, looking over at her, "Do all your clients come to your house?"

"Not at all," She shook her head while placing her cup down on the coffee table, "That's dangerous business. I do deliveries."

"Then why us?"

She shrugged, "I have no idea. You guys…aren't some sketchy 20 year olds who just want guns to feel cool. Although I don't know exactly what you guys do, I just get a good vibe from you guys. So, maybe it is a little risky, but I trust you in my household."

He nodded with a smile, "You don't need to worry about us."

"Besiiidesss…there's firearms hidden literally everywhere. Someone comes in to try and mess with me will be very sorry."

"Has that ever happened?"

Shaking her head, she took another sip of her coffee, "Not here…other places. Men think they can screw me over because I'm a woman. Like, I'll be too afraid to ask for my money after spending days slaving over their order. And most of these people only buy one or two small handguns, so it's not even like it's that much. You can go to any street corner in the south side and buy one. At least have enough respect that I'm making these from scratch."

"Well, we wouldn't do that to you. Those are immature boys."

Nodding to herself, she went to bring out her practically empty pack of cigarettes. Before she was about to light up, Gunnar reached over to pull the cigarette gently from her succulent lips. She looked at him curiously as he shook the carcinogen, "You really should think of quitting, darling."

"I'm quitting soon." She waved off while taking it back.

"You sound like my ex-wife."

She paused for a moment while lighting up, her eyes flickering over in his direction while inhaling, "You were married?"

The tall man chuckled to himself and shook his head in remembrance, "Yea…like a thousand years ago. Didn't last long after the whole honeymoon faze."

"Any kids?"

Gunnar shook his head as he observed her relax her legs from their bent position against her chest, her small toes gently touching his thigh, "No, I wasn't home enough to discuss children with her. Too busy out doing things I shouldn't have been doing. What about-"

Remembering the fact she had been ridden of the ability to have children at the age of 19, he tried to stop himself. Though it was already too late. There was only a small look of disappointment on her face as she picked herself back up, speaking freely, "Before I was given this lovely scar I considered children. What teenage girl doesn't dream of the American dream of a beautiful wedding with her beautiful husband in a grand house with children? Though, now I think about it, it's for the best. How could I tell little junior not to play with guns when mommy makes 'em?" She smirked, then off commenting, "Besides…Roy…he had a young daughter who I saw once in a while. Her mother didn't like me being around her kid that much."

The two looked at each other for a moment, the only sound in the atmosphere being CJ exhaling some cigarette smoke. Arching her back, she stretched her legs out, them landing gently on his laps. He was surprised when she didn't retract them back, deciding not to make too big of a deal of it. Rather he relaxed his back into the couch.

CJ tilted her head, observing the structure of the big man's face, "You're some sort of European."

"Close. My parents come from Sweden."

"Oh, Sveden, ya?"

Gunnar shot the giggling girl a playful glare, reaching down to gently squeeze her right foot. She pulled her feet back quickly, obviously feeling a tickle. He then asked her what she was, her responding nonchalantly, "Sicilian and Greek. Though it's long diluted. I like to think of myself as rather American."

After thinking to himself that her heritage explained her exotic features, he nodded understandably. It had been years since he had been in contact with his foreign parents, never knowing much about his own ancestral heritage. He knew they were quite proud of it, but personally he really didn't give a shit. For too long he had enough going on his life he didn't have time to concern himself with being Swedish, but more so trying to help his inner demons.

The two talked small talk for about another cup of coffee before CJ stood up while cracking her back, "How did you get here?"

"I took my truck."

"Want me to help you load up your order?"

He then raised his eyebrow, confused, "How do you have our order already?"

At this she smirked slyly, "Ross called me a couple of days ago to set his order. You're kinda his…delivery boy. I just wanted to buy more time with you."

Letting the thought of Ross just sending him around like some lackey subside, he smiled at the thought that she wanted him around more, "You don't need to pull my leg to spend time with you."

She smiled while tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear, her green eyes glimmering up at him. After that he stood up to walk downstairs to lug what Ross had ordered up to his truck. It didn't take long for him to load everything up, the weapon builder checking everything off the list Ross had ordered. Everything was there, CJ a woman of her word. She told him to come by anytime as he bid her goodbye, watching her eyes follow his truck back out of her driveway and pull away.

Not too long afterwards did Gunnar end up at the Vietnam veteran's house. Ross gave him a smug smirk as he gently placed the heavy suitcase on to his dining room table. The other chuckled, "How was spending time with your girlfriend?"

"Ha…ha…ha…"

"Everything here?"

The two opened the case up, their eyes quickly scanning everything. Ross had a business relationship with CJ, her being ecstatic when he called to order more product. She had explained the same thing to him that she had to Gunnar; the Expendables gave her a challenge. These were legitimate weapons that you relied on to save your ass. They knew quality when they saw it and to her it was the best partnership she had since she took up weaponry business.

Ross offered his friend a beer, looking him over. The two had been friends for the longest time. And for the whole time he knew him he knew he was using. At first this didn't affect Gunnar's work; Ross's reason for keeping him on as long as he did. That and Gunnar was almost passionate about what he did, pumped for every mission. Towards the end though the junk took over his life and Ross knew he couldn't allow him to be on the field that way; especially after he tried to kill Yin in Somalia. It was refreshing to see him clean.

"How are you doing?"

Popping to cap off the beer, he gave a weak smile, "Getting there."

"Good."

Gunnar took a sip of his beer, looking at Ross's walls. His eyes roamed until noticing the picture that Sandra had given him back in Vilena. He pointed his beer over to it, asking, "You ever talk to her?"

"In letters, sometimes," The other replied, his gaze staring forward, "Just to make sure she's ok."

"Why don't you go visit her? We have a plain for a reason."

Ross chuckled, shaking his head, "its intangible, Gunnar. I just want to make sure she's alright. Jesus, she's young enough to be my fucking daughter."

"Doesn't stop Tool."

"It's different. Those girls are there for one thing and one thing only."

Gunnar fell silent for a moment, thinking about what his friend said. They seemed lately to be associating themselves with younger females who didn't seem to mind the age difference between them. It wasn't hard to see that Ross felt strongly for Sandra, a feeling that rose above the physical level. Whether he wanted to explore those feelings were up to him. Just simply being in her life was enough for him.

He then began to think about CJ for a moment. The two had ran into each other quite a few times. Both had revealed quite a good amount of private information to each other. What was he looking for in her? No doubt she was very physically attractive, remembering how much he must have sweat the first time he laid eyes on her. The night at the bar though shifted his viewing of her, now wondering if he viewed her like Tool viewed women, like Ross viewed Sandra, or if perhaps he was just looking for another reformed junkie to share his struggle with.


	8. Chapter 8

TC Stark: Once again thank you for all the great reviews I have received regarding this story! Really quick to Shandra, I'm not sure if I'll be including anything else about the boys who owe her money, it was meant more as a side comment rather than anything big. But, I do have something planned for this story, so please stay tuned! ^^ Oh and to Wiccanpride 1989, yes he is one hot cookie ;)

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 8

"Thank you for coming over, Lee."

Lee Christmas found himself one afternoon back in Lacy's house. He hadn't spoken to her since they had their last encounter at her house and was quite surprised when she was the one who actually contacted him. She said something about wanting to tell him something and it would be better off in person. He had no idea what it could be, but wanted to respect her wishes, and willed himself to come over her house.

It was nice enough that day where they could relax in her backyard, the sun beating down on their skin. Lacy was probably taking advantage of the nice weather they had been having lately, noticing the nice tint to her skin. It was enough to make him want to reach out. There was no doubt that she was one very attractive woman. And what was great was she didn't go to any great lengths to show off her body, leaving more to the imagination; which he found even sexier.

"Any plans for tonight?"

Lee shook his head, "Not really. Perhaps I'll see what the guys are doing tonight; if not then I'll most likely spend my night in."

Giving up on trying to resuscitate their relationship at the moment, she didn't bother inviting him to spend the night with her rather just nod, "I was thinking about going out with the girls. I won't be seeing them for a while."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, a few friends of mine from work are going to be going to several South American countries. We're going to go try and see what we can do for these impoverished places," She then gave him a weak smile, "So…I'm going to be away for a little while."

It was odd that the shoe was now on the other foot. When they were together he'd leave her for months on end without so much of an explanation, "For how long?"

Lacy bit her lower lip, staring deep into his eyes, "About two months…I won't have a cell phone or anything. It'll almost be…an escape. I just feel I need to get away."

"Well…as long as this is what you want."

"It is."

"Then I wish you the best of luck."

"Do you mean that?"

The bald man stared into her eyes, reaching out to gently hold her hand, "Yes…I do. I just hope you're safe. It's dangerous in those places."

She nodded understandably, squeezing his hand back, "I will be fine, Lee. We have tour guides in each country who will be accompanying us."

Slowly Lee let go of Lacy's hand, running his own over his head. He had become use to her being in one place and him being able to see her whenever he was ready. Now that she'd be gone without any contact for a couple of months he began to understand why Lacy had been so upset. He was also highly worried. Having done jobs in many countries in South America he knew the dangers of them. Especially their last excursion in Vilena, he knew the real dangers of what she was about to do.

"I think…perhaps I can cancel my plans with the boys tonight?"

CJ absolutely loved Industrial music. The way it commanded her to move, the way the beats forced her hips to sway. It was a way to let loose and to get a natural high that could only come from really loving something. It was a substitution for drugs and she was completely addicted. Another great reason for loving this scene was the ability of wearing anything you could get away with. It was like Halloween every night she went to the clubs. No one looked at you weirdly, rather just there to have a great time. She loved 90s grunge music to rock to while working, but when she wanted to cut loose she came out to the clubs.

Looking down at herself, she smirked. She was a perfect example of what she was thinking about. With a neon green bra hiding underneath a long sleeved black fishnet and torn jean shorts with a pair of black buckled combat boots, she fit right in. This was certainly not an outfit she could wear in broad daylight. It wasn't appropriate and besides that fact she wouldn't have any desire to wear what she was in the light of day.

Taking a break from the floor, she traveled her way to order a Smirnoff Ice from the drag queen behind the counter. She visited TunDra 54 often and knew practically all of the bartenders, although none of them knew what she did for a living. She thought for a moment what it would be like to be a bartender for a living at a club like this. To play dress up every night and serve kickass drinks to people did sound appealing. Then again she loved what she did for a living and besides being around that much alcohol for a living would be a bad combination.

She drummed her fingers against the bar counter and tapped her foot to the booming music when someone tapped on her shoulder, "That's quite an outfit you're wearing."

She turned towards the voice, grinning, "Aren't you a tad old to be here?" She winked teasingly, reminding him of when he commented she was too young to be hanging out at Carl's bar.

Gunnar rolled his eyes, leaning into her ear while holding his ears, "How do you listen to this!"

"Don't listen! Just feel!"

"No thank you!"

CJ waved him off, taking a swig of her drink, "What are you doing here?"

"I was actually looking for you."

"Really? You've certainly traveled to another world to do so."

Raising his eyebrow as he watched glow sticks being waved around, he commented dryly, "That's for sure…I was thinking we could talk?"

CJ looked up at the taller man, nodding while finishing her drink. She made sure to pay before leading him out of the club. She had taken a cab there, not being one for drinking and driving. It was a pain in the ass to pay for a cab, but it sure as hell beat getting pulled over and arrested or worse. Luckily though Gunnar had taken his bike, deciding tonight was a good night to do so.

When they had arrived to her house, she excused herself quietly to change into a pair of sweats and a form fitting tank top. She figured it was just more appropriate to talk in rather than a neon bra. It was around one in the morning, guiding him to her bedroom. For a quick moment he felt his heart skip a beat, similar to the way it had when she had him touch her scar. She explained it would be a more relaxing environment and more comfortable.

He had never been to a house where in order to get to the bedroom one had to walk through the kitchen first. Even though CJ's house was rather plain, she shocked him with her bedroom. It was an average sized bedroom with a light shade of purple walls, a dresser in the corner, a desk with a laptop sitting upon it, and a queen sized bed in the middle. He observed that there was a door to what he assumed was a bathroom, though not bothering to explore.

"You seem too tense, just relax and sit down."

She was right about tense. The only time he had ever been in another woman's bedroom was to fuck her. Now he was resting himself into her very comfortable bed, slowly kicking his boots off. As his back rested against the headboard, he watched her curl up onto the computer chair. He guessed she sensed his uneasiness and decided to separate herself from the bed so as to make him feel more relaxed and easier to talk.

CJ lit up a cigarette, smiling. It was cute seeing such a large man in her zebra printed bed sheets, "So…what are we talking about?"

"What do you do at those clubs?"

"Drop E and have sex in the bathrooms," Seeing his glare, she giggled at her own joke while correcting herself, "I love to dance and play dress up."

"Call me old fashioned, but I don't call that music."

She then grinned, leaning forward in her chair, "Have you ever danced? I bet you were one of those guys who could blast some kickass rock 'n' roll and wore leathers jackets and stood outside Judas Priest concerts barbequing."

Gunnar then laughed heartily, running his fingers through his short blonde hair, "I had the long hair and everything."

She held her chin, trying to picture it, "Did you tease it?"

"Fuck no."

It was her turn to laugh loudly, taking another pull of her cigarette, "It's like a getaway. I never go to the clubs with friends. I don't want to concentrate on making sure they have a good time. I want to go and concentrate on myself having a good time, I don't need anyone else. Besides, when I go alone I am less around drugs. My club friends sniff coke and Special K just to enhance their club experience; none of them know I use to do that on a daily basis."

"Do you ever tempted?"

"No," She shook her head gently, "Not anymore. Three years ago, yes. Now, it's just the matter of I don't want to see it."

_Heh. _Gunnar sighed, looking up at her ceiling fan, "Haven't gotten to that point yet."

She smiled kindly at him, "You will, one day."

Having the distinct urge to change the subject, his eyes shifted towards her bed sheets to comment, "You sure do like zebra."

"Not so much the animal, just the print. Why you don't like it?"

"I'm not sure I can pull it off."

He snickered as she went to go flick a pen over his direction, catching the object. She then gave him the finger while commenting, "Actually, I only have those sheets because they were the cheapest I could find."

"Cutting corners, huh?"

The younger girl shrugged nonchalantly, "I mostly fall asleep downstairs working anyway, so what's the point in putting so much effort into my bedroom?"

"Looks like you have, it's the only room you painted."

There was no arguing there. Holding her knees close to her chest, she looked around her room, "Sometimes I feel really inspired. One day I felt this great amount of energy where I wanted to fix up the whole house. I was going to paint every room and get entirely new furniture. I got to this room. That was two years ago."

"Maybe one day I'll help you paint and you can fix up my bike."

She grinned from ear to ear in excitement, acknowledging that it was a good idea. She then got up from her position on the chair to walk over to the dresser. Opening the middle drawer, he looked up observe that instead of cloths, CDs were inhabiting the drawer. He couldn't see what she had held in her hands, watching her walk over to a CD player resting on her desk. Her shirt had ridden up a little, her sweats already hanging lowly off her hips, her flat stomach in plain sight. Hiding his arousal, he began overwhelmed with a different type of happiness.

"This is what I call music."

CJ had put on the album Rust in Peace from Megadeth. She obviously had an array of taste in music, wanting to make her guest happy. With the music filling the room, the two spoke well into four in the morning. When she had gone to use the restroom, she found Gunnar passed out when she came back in. A small smile graced her lips as she walked over to shut off the music. She tried her best not to wake him as she pulled the covers out from under his large body, making sure he was now under them. After shutting off the ceiling fan's light, she then snuggled under the covers next to him.

TC Stark: So everyone please lemme know what you think of this chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

TC Stark: Thank you to my amazing reviews! Just to let everyone know, please also check out Chaotic-Theoretician and 's stories as well, they're also very good ^^ But, as you know all my reviewers mean the world to me, you guys inspire me to write! So, please enjoy this chapter….it's uh…steamy? Haha!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 9

Gunnar awoke the next morning to the sweet aroma of breakfast food. He hadn't remembered passing out, just remembered that one moment they were talking and the next it was morning. His body was rested from a good night's sleep. When he had woken, he had almost forgotten that he had spent the night at CJ's. Waking up to purple painted walls and zebra printed sheets, he almost felt youthful again. The bed smelt of CJ, letting him know that at one point she had accompanied him that night. He had frowned, wishing in a way she had been there when he got up.

When he had finished taking in her scent, the mercenary stepped out of the bedroom to see CJ loading plenty of food onto a large plate on the kitchen table. She was wearing what she had last night, her hair held back to keep hair from falling into the food. The sounds of old 70s rock music played in the background, coming from another old radio placed on the kitchen counter. Stepping forward, he noticed three large eggs cooked sunny side up, a heaping plate of hash browns, bacon, sausage, and toast. There were containers of maple syrup, ketchup, hot sauce, and salt on the table.

She gave him that large grin she always did, cheerful at eleven a.m., "Well, good morning, sunshine. Had a good night's sleep?"

"Slept like a fucking baby. What's all this?"

"Um…I think they call this breakfast."

CJ relished in the glare she received, simply turning on her toes to set her frying pan into the sink. His eyes followed her go to the refrigerator to get out a container of orange juice, thus noticing two empty glasses on the table. She gestured for him to sit down, doing so slowly. He wasn't use to a woman cooking for him, unaware of what exactly he should do. God, he felt like a little child.

When his bottom finally rested in the chair, he took in a deep breath and moved forward. It really smelt wonderful. The fresh smell of cooked eggs and spices filled his nostrils, reminding him he hadn't had a meal like this one in a very long time. It was refreshing and most of all enjoyable considering it was going to be spent with CJ.

He noticed the red head pour orange juice for the both of them, watching her take a sip. His gaze was fixed on watching the way he throat twitched as the liquid fell through, quickly looking away so as to not be noticed for his strange behavior. It was then he noticed he was the only one with food in front of him, "You're not eating?"

"Not really," She shrugged while reaching over to grab one of his pieces of toast, "I actually detest breakfast food. It's not appealing to me." She explained while tearing off a small piece of bread to pop into her mouth.

Gunnar raised his expression in shock while picking up the necessary utensils in order to eat, "You are one strange girl."

"I've been told that." She responded with a grin.

For someone who detested breakfast she sure could cook it well. He could taste the real salt and butter used in her cooking, the warm food resting comfortably in his stomach. Being a big man, he knew he had to have eaten in order to get that large. But, upon eating the food that was prepared for him that morning, it felt like he hadn't eaten in over 30 years. It was really touching that she would go to such great lengths to cook things she didn't like just to appease the man.

Digging now into the hash browns, he commented sincerely, "This has to be the best damn breakfast I've ever had."

Gunnar's comment put a sort of accomplished glimmer on her face, blowing out smoke from her freshly lit cigarette, "Is food really the way to a man's heart?"

"It's a little more south."

The two shared in a laugh, him being wary of the evil smirk forming on her lips. He raised an eyebrow while chewing slowly, "I suppose that's true. At least it was for you last night."

"What are you…Oh!" Gunnar nearly choked, banging his fist squarely into his chest. As best as he had tried to hide his arousal the night previous while conscious, his unconscious self feeling no such shame.

Deciding to ignore her snickering, he went back to his food. He could feel her amused eyes upon him, determined to just keep his head down. Getting down to the last of his meal, he cut the last sausage in half with his fork, and stabbed one of the halves with the fork. It was then he looked up, still seeing a cocky smirk on her face. In retaliation he gave her a kind smile, holding up his fork, "Do me a favor?"

CJ's face fell. She was going to protest, resting back in her chair while stubbing out her cigarette, "Must I?"

"For me?"

No one had ever looked so miserable at the prospect of eating breakfast. He simply raised his eyebrow as she gave in, reaching over to grab his fork. Bringing it up to her lips, she hesitantly shoved the sausage into her mouth. He watched her small mouth chew slowly, as if he had just given her cow testicles to chew on. He couldn't understand that. How could someone cook something so well when they in fact themselves hated the food?

After handing him back the fork, the younger woman stood out of her chair and moved towards his sitting position with her hands on her hips, "Well, sir, if it's alright with you, I'm going to take a shower now."

"Should I leave?"

"Haha," She laughed, leaning her hips to one side, "I won't be long. Hey! Wanna go to the beach today?"

The tall muscleman raised his eyebrow, chewing the last piece of sausage, "Do I look like a beach person?"

Gunnar couldn't help but laugh softly as he watched her straighten up, holding her hands behind her back in the cutest fucking manner, "C'mon…it's suppose to be nice today," She then loosened her position, "Besides, you need a tan."

After shooing her away, the former junkie stood up to take his dirty dish to the sink. She didn't have a dish washer, having to clean the plate by hand. Not that he minded. She had taken out time to prepare him a filling meal that she didn't even eat, it was the least he could do. His ears twitched as he heard the sounds of her shower being turned on, groaning inwardly at the idea of CJ naked.

The sounds of 70s rock still played, though he heard none of it. The room became silent and that became deafening. His large hands gripped the sink, leaning his head forward. _What is going on here?_ It was a real mind fuck that was for sure. Not even with his ex-wife did Gunnar Jensen feel so confused about a woman in his life. There was something about her that drew him in, not even sure what approach he should take.

Deciding to humor himself, the Expendable shut off the faucet, and stepped into her bedroom. The shower was still running, seeing the light crack through the bottom of her bathroom door. He was pretty sure she hadn't heard him coming in, straightening up with his hands in his pockets. Slowly he began to scan her room, trying to pick out the little particles of her personality.

He noticed that there were no family photos lying around anywhere. Then he began to wonder if she even had a family? Did they know where she was? Or even who she was? Did they know that their daughter liked zebra stripes? And loved to go to the club? And most importantly; did they having any inkling whatsoever that CJ built weapons for a living and hung around much older men who killed people for a living?

Gunnar's eyes fluttered shut, taking in a deep breath as he heard the water turn off from CJ's shower. He knew he didn't want to move yet not completely sure what he wanted to do if he stayed. A moment passed as the bathroom door opened, the blonde turning around. Standing in a loosely wrapped around towel and wet, CJ didn't look surprised at all. Instead she stood there with her hands on her hips and leaning to one side to let the man spend a little more time staring.

She then raised her eyebrow and stated coolly, "Well, this is quite a predicament."

"That's for sure."

CJ stood still as she watched through her blue eyes as Gunnar walked slowly up to her, feeling his large fingers run through the hairs on the back of her neck. It was a far reach for him to lean down, her breathing in as his lips met hers. Upon touch she gave herself to him. His other arm wrapped itself around her waist, pulling her in as she began to kiss back.

Gunnar moaned as he felt her hot breath against his and felt her run her own fingers through his blonde hair. He pressed his lips in more, flickering his tongue against her lower lip in permission. Permission she happily granted, opening her mouth to taste him. Her lips were exactly how they looked, sweet and full. Everything ceased as they deepened their kisses.

The red head pressed her body against his muscular ones, running her fingers up his chiseled chest. She could feel his arousal, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull herself up on her toes, ravishing in his kiss. He heard a small gasp escape her lips as he moved his own from her mouth down to her neck, sucking on the sweet skin. Once finding a spot to stay upon, CJ's world spun upside down. He could feel her heart quickening, feeling the grip on his hair tighten. That only turned him on more as he pulled her closer so to feel her warmth against him.

CJ began to tear off the button down shirt he was wearing, wanting so badly for her skin to touch his. With quick hands, her towel had now slipped off of her body. Gunnar grunted as his dick grew harder, fiercely picking her naked body up to gently set her down on the bed. He then crawled on top of her perfect body; tattoos and piercings alike. He couldn't help but reach out to her supply breasts, after all he'd never seen a pair with metal through the nipples.

He almost chuckled at the 'yip' that came out of her mouth as he gently bit one of them. Playing with the other with his hand, his tongue began to move in circles around it, quickly hardening it. His blonde hair was once against pulled as he pulled at the barbell with his teeth. Their eyes met briefly as she watched his head moving downward, gripping the sheets as she knew what was about to happen. She then closed her eyes, twitching only a little at the sudden feel of his mouth on her womanhood.

It didn't take much for the 25-year-old to feel euphoric, arching her back in heat as he licked her clit. His nostrils were filled with her natural scent, ravishing in her suckle taste. His hands had to keep her legs from twitching, her body moving involuntarily in heat. Gunnar growled as he wasn't allowed to spend much time down there, feeling her hands push his shoulders away.

He watched her lean up on her knees, moving forward to press her lips against his. Slowly his eyes closed, meeting her kiss with equal amount of intensity. Her body pressed against his, supporting himself by the palms of his hands in order to prevent himself to falling back. _What a fucking woman _he thought as she reached down to run her fingers against his bulge. She could feel how horny he was, how much he was aching. She smirked while kissing him, undoing his pants to reveal something very large. Now it was Gunnar's turn for his eyes to roll into the back of his head, letting it fall back as he felt her take him in her mouth.

Gunnar's member throbbed as he felt her lips run themselves up and down, playing her tongue against his cock. He couldn't help himself grip her red hair gently, his mouth hanging open in pure ecstasy. Knowing he didn't want anything to end too soon, he pulled her head away from his crotch and pushed her back down onto the bed. She all too eagerly pulled him back down to press her lips onto his, wrapping a leg around his waist.

Groaning, the mercenary held her smooth leg around his waist and pushed the other leg open with his knee. Her breath deepened as she felt the tip of his member positioned against her opening, lifting her lower half as he pushed in. CJ's eyes tightened close as her mouth held open, feeling his large size squeeze himself into her tight void. His own head hung low, his blonde hair hanging above her as his organ pulsed from the wet walls wrapping around him.

Her naked body formed against his as he began to move his hips, pushing in and out of her. In. Out. As his large member moved in deeper her world was spun into chaos. CJ breathed heavy, letting out moans as her own hips bucked to match the movement of his. Slowly her void relaxed to his size, allowing her to feel nothing but pure pleasure.

A grunt escaped his lips as he felt her nails dig down the flesh of his back, lifting her bottom up to push in. He kissed her again as he wrapped his arm under her waist, pulling her forward. As their kiss deepened, he felt her push him up. In a quick shift Gunnar had CJ on top of him. She was there like a pro, straddling his waist and rocking her hips in a rhythm. Gunnar rested himself against the bed, running his large hands up the back of her thighs until he had her ass in his hands, guiding her. Though, she didn't need it, knowing exactly what she was doing.

In. Out. In. Out. She could feel herself reaching her peak, her void tightening as she let out a small triumphant scream. This was just about enough to set the older man off, gripping her hips as he ejaculated his seed into her. He knew she was incapable of having children or else he would have pulled out. Then again it just felt so damn good.

CJ slid her tired body off his large one, leaving him breathing heavy. Their bodies were both glistened with sexual sweat, trying to calm their beating hearts. Her blue eyes shifted over to him, looking up at him with an almost wondering gaze. He knew how she felt. Sex didn't mean anything changed except their physical relationship. Gunnar let out a small sigh, reaching his arm to pull her over to him. He felt her physical body wrap around his, resting her head against his muscular chest. Gunnar reached down to kiss her forehead, running his fingers down her back. A moment passed as he chuckled lightly.

"You still wanna go to the beach today?" 


	10. Chapter 10

TC Stark: Ugh, three days? Shame on me! I'm sorry guys, work and school has been chewing up my schedule Thank you for the amazing reviews for the last chapter, I'm glad it got a positive reaction. This chapter is sort of fun, just a little thing to read. Don't worry, this story has great things approaching it :P So please continue to read! And review!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ…and in this chapter only Alexia.

Chapter 10

"I hate wrestling."

Hale turned his head towards Toll Road, who was now scrunching his face in anger. Tool chuckled, walking over to pat his friend on the back, "Why so steamed?"

The other bald headed Expendable folded his arms, fixing his gaze on the TV seriously, "It's all fake. Those guys couldn't take us professionals."

"Those guys are still throwing themselves around the arena, Toll." Hale defended calmly.

Then again Toll Road wasn't a calm man as he pointed to his ears, his eyebrows arched, "You think any of those guys got this?"

The other men in the room grimaced, yelling at him to not tell his cauliflower ear story yet again. Instead Lee snatched the remote to change the channel, getting Toll's mind off of the WWE. Flipping through the channel, he heard a voice shout out "stop!" once he passed the channel playing _Sex and the City. _All of the men turned to Tool, eyebrows raised as Lee questioned, "What?"

"What?" Tool grinned wolfishly, "You ever see the sex scenes in that show?"

The eccentric man stayed cocky under the gazes of his comrades, watching them all slowly turn back around. Shaking his thoughts away, Lee Christmas flipped pass a scene of Samantha getting fucked. Tool was upset, but then again he got enough ass he didn't need to watch it on TV. Still, the boys needed to keep an open mind in his opinion, all of them trying to find something the group could all agree on. Today there was no such luck.

Bored while flipping well into the 300s, Lee turned around to greet Gunnar as he joined the rest of the Expendables who had nothing else better to do that day than lounge around Tool's shop. After a moment of staring at the rapidly changing channels, the blonde haired man turned to his friends, "What are ya'll doing today?"

All the men shrugged as he asked them if any of them would like to go to the paint shop with him. Tool then asked why he was going to the paint shop to which Gunnar replied, "I'm going to go paint CJ's living room and I wanted you guys to come with me."

"What?" Toll Road was baffled, "I'm not spending my day painting walls."

His eyes then shifted over to Tool who amusedly shook his head, then Lee who shrugged, "Sorry, mate."

Gunnar frowned; it wasn't like these guys had anything to do today anyway. He thought it would be nice to do his female friend a favor and paint her God awful living room a decent color. Since she had been such a help to all of them he thought he'd be a good friend to her. He also thought that his comrades would be a little more on board with him, obviously having the wrong idea.

"I'll go with you, Gunnar."

Grinning, the tall mercenary patted his friend on the back, "Thanks, Hale, it'll be fun."

Hale the pointed to the former junkie, "You're buying me a drink."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop complaining and get your ass in gear."

The two Expendables said their goodbyes to the rest, heading out to the local paint shop. Gunnar that day had taken his bike, deciding to take her up on her offer to repair it. In that case Hale had to follow the other with his own car so that they could load the supplies in his vehicle. Not that he minded. The great thing about Hale was that he was very easy, pretty much up for anything. It would be a great day, Gunnar and Hale painting CJ's walls.

"What color are we painting it?"

"I have no idea."

Hale turned to his friend while in the shop, his eyebrow raised as he watched the other going though the booklet of colors. That was the truth. Though CJ's bedroom was purple, he doubted the girl wanted her whole house to be. It would have to be a nice color, something that represented her well. For a moment he considered red, to match her hair. But, would that be too tacky? One of the drawbacks to being a man was that he wasn't very creative; his walls were just white.

His friend decided to go take a look around, seeing if he could make any better of a decision. The young high school girls who worked there were very helpful, giving him all sort of suggestions. In the end nothing helped. They didn't know CJ so he knew they wouldn't be able to help him much. He then chuckled to him, considering a neon green since he remembered the neon green bra she was wearing that night at the club. Then again he thought that would be too obnoxious.

"Gunnar?"

Turning around, Gunnar was suddenly face to face with the former Mrs. Jensen, "Alexia?"

Alexia Jensen was the woman a thousand years ago Gunnar had made the vows to live till death do we part…or until two years later. Most of which was spent filling out divorce papers. She was one of those women who looked great at the age of 50, still having a body which resembled her younger self. Alexia was tall, about 5'11" with light pink skin, bright green eyes, and very long blonde hair. She was standing in front of with the look on her face as if she had seen a ghost.

Her face warmed, looking up at him with big eyes, "Wow…you look amazing."

"I finally got clean." He admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

Now her face was filled with shock, her glossed lips hanging open. Recomposing herself, the older woman held her hand over her heart, "Oh my God…Gunnar, that's amazing!"

Gunnar nodded his head, keeping it low. Even Alexia had no idea what he did for a living and he wasn't about to tell her the real reason why he had decided to kick his bad habit. The two of them stood in silence for a moment, the blonde female running her fingers through her hair, "I ugh…quit smoking."

"Finally."

Alexia gently laughed, nodding admittedly, "It did take a while. What a nasty habit. I wish I had never started. For the longest Karina would hound me to quit."

"Whose Karina?"

"Oh…" She then scratched the back of her neck, a small smile on her face. It was an embarrassed one. Although it had been forever since they were married, it was still weird to talk about this with him, "My daughter. I'm married now…I have three children."

Gunnar nearly choked on his own breath, staring at her wide eyed, "Oh, wow. Really? That's…that's great."

She held her hands on front of herself, proudly admitting, "Yea, they're amazing. I'm so proud of all of them. My oldest starts college in a year."

Tucking his hands in his pockets, he nodded modestly. Then clearing his throat, he asked her seriously, "And ugh…this guy…are you happy?"

"Yes, we've been married for 27 years last month," She then eyed his large hands, as if searching for something, "What about you?"

Gunnar shook his head, explaining to her that he mostly became concerned with other things. The two of them knew what that meant and it was just kind to not mention anything at all. Even though their marriage had been short, Alexia knew him well and he wouldn't be surprised if she probably thought he'd be dead by now. Not that he was ashamed at all what had happened between him and CJ, he wasn't about to tell her that he was hanging around someone half his age.

Hale had interrupted the large man's thoughts, bidding his ex-wife goodbye. He hadn't bothered explaining to his friend who the woman was, rather getting back on track with the day's initial initiative. Gunnar felt the breeze run across his shaven face, guiding Hale on his bike since the other had never been to the young woman's house before.

It didn't take long for the two men to arrive at CJ's house, Hale parking his pickup truck on the side of the road and Gunnar guiding his bike in the driveway. CJ came to the door after the first knock, having a confused look on her face, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Move along, pretty lady, we're gonna do some painting." Gunnar gave her a large grin, holding up several cans of paint.

Standing baffled, the red head tilted her head, "No, stop."

"We're not kidding."

Deciding to finally believe them, she let the two big men into her house and immediately offering them drinks. Hale followed her into the kitchen, going to raid her refrigerator. The other man rolled his eyes as he looked around her living room. There wasn't much to move, just a couch and a small TV. This painting job would be a breeze; it would be done in no time.

As CJ went to work on making Hale a sandwich, Gunnar leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen with his arms folded, "Putting her to work, huh?"

"Well, she was offering." He replied with a toothy grin, taking the sandwich to the table to start munching.

"I can't believe you're doing this," She looked up at him with large blue eyes, a genuine smile on her face, "This is the nicest thing someone's ever done for me."

A genuine smile formed on his own lips, holding back the urge to tuck a strand of her smooth hair behind her ear, "It's nothing, really. Besides…it's sort of a trade."

CJ raised a smile as she looked outside, seeing his bike resting in her driveway. She then smirked while lighting up a cigarette; it had been a while since she worked on a motorcycle and she was excited at a new challenge. After getting the keys to the bike, he watched her walk outside and start up his Harley. She was moving it into the garage where he assumed she'd be working on it.

After Hale had finished his sandwich, Gunnar got his ass to work. In the end he went with a subtle red, to go along with her hair. It may have been a corny idea at the time, but the whole time he was at the shop he couldn't get the color red out of his mind. But, he didn't want the color to be too overwhelming, deciding to just make one wall red and the rest a neutral color. It had been a long time since either of them had done a paint job and the times in the past the colors had already been picked out.

Again there wasn't much to move in the living room, being able to practically get started once everything was set up. They got to work on painting the walls while listening to the sounds of CJ working in the garage. Today she was blasting some Jimi Hendrix, Gunnar smiling at the array of music she listened to.

Some time had passed and the walls were looking great. By now their female companion was finished with her fix up on Gunnar's bike, retiring herself downstairs to do some work and so as not to be in the way. In a way he wished she had stayed and kept them company, but he understood she had work to do. Besides, Hale always was entertaining, glad that he was the one who decided to tag along on this mission.

It was dark out when the boys had finished the walls of the living room, now covered with paint and sweat. As if sensing this, CJ appeared upstairs, shoving ice cold water in both their hands and clean rags. She then eyed her newly painted walls, her hands on her hips, "Wow, look at you guys. My walls look so good!"

"I got the magic touch." Hale said smugly, brushing his fingers against his chest.

Gunnar and CJ looked at each other and laugh, the female patting Hale on the back, "Yes, yes, good job. Anyone want a beer?"

The blonde nodded as the other man looked at his voice, wincing at the time, "I gotta go."

"What do you have to do?"

"I got a date."

CJ gave a low whistle, winking, "Go get 'em, tiger."

After Hale left, Gunnar shoved his hands in his pockets as he looked over at the girl he had slept with a couple of days ago. She looked great like she always did, finally reach over and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "How's my bike doing?"

"Wonderful, wanna see it?"

"Let's take it out on a test run, huh?"

A certain childish excitement sparkled in her eyes as she grinned largely, "That sounds amazing."

Gunnar smiled as well, happy at the fact he'd get to enjoy a lively ride with a beautiful woman on the back of it. It was getting late and he had no idea what was to happen after the ride. He wasn't going to initiate anything, not wanting to give her the idea that all he viewed her as was sex. He also didn't want to make the assumption that just because they had had that type of connection that he was allowed to stay the night."

"Hey…wanna stay the night?"


	11. Chapter 11

TC Stark: Thanks once again for the reviews! Keep it up ^^

Disclaimer: I only own CJ , Carl, and Roy.

Chapter 11

On a particular Friday afternoon, Ross, Gunnar, and Hale found themselves at the local gym lifting weights. It had been a good month or so since Lacy had left the states and in between that time the Expendables hadn't gotten any jobs. That was odd for them to go so long without anyone proposing a mission for them. In that case they all had to stay in shape, that way when a new challenge arose they were all prepared for it. Besides, these three had the biggest bodies out of the group and all needed to maintain their muscles.

On the other hand, this little down time was good. It allowed them to pursue seemingly normal lives for the time being. To just have friends, hang out, and not be worried if their heads were going to be blown off. Sooner or later if jobs didn't come to them, they would have to start looking for jobs; seeing as it was their source of income and the only life any of them had ever known. Ross couldn't imagine any of them working a 9-5 desk job without someone flinging a keyboard through a window.

"Is it just me," Hale breathed in between reps, "But, does all this seem suspicious to you?"

Gunnar was now in the process of lifting a very large weight, his biceps pulsing, "What do you mean?"

"I mean…it seems odd…not to be crawling through some wasteland with guns in our hands. Instead we're at a clean gym having a chat."

Ross made eye contact with his friend, letting out a sigh, "We should appreciate this time for what it is."

Hale nodded, "I know, I know. But, c'mon. You all know this doesn't feel right."

Setting the huge barbell down, the tallest one cracked his shoulder and admitted, "He's right, Ross. I have a bad feeling."

"We've gone through this amount of time without a mission before."

"Yea, but not without the proposal of one."

The oldest man didn't know what to tell the others. All business proposals went through him and Lee and so far there wasn't even a stupid little gang proposal. It seemed that at that current moment in time that the world…their world at least, was completely at peace. Why did that feel so weird to them? Were they so use to killing others for a living that they couldn't appreciate life? This time should have been used to make other human connections; instead it was spent being suspicious.

That night the boys ended up at Carl's bar. They were really the only human beings any of them knew and it was important that between missions they remained tight. They had even convinced Tool to come, convincing him that he'd be able to pick up hot girls at the bar. So far he would have no such luck, taking a swig of his beer, "This bar is a complete sausage fest."

Toll snickered while also taking a swig, "Would it kill ya not to be scoutin' all the time?"

"See, that's why you're always pissed off," Tool smirked wildly, watching his face scrunch up, "Maybe you should be scouting."

At that moment a young blonde strolled by their table, all their eyes following her. Deep down, they were all men, "See, that's what I'm talkin' bout, go ahead, Toll. I'll let that one pass."

Toll rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "Nah, I'm good. That's all you, buddy."

The eccentric man grinned like a kid in a candy shop, finishing his beer before going over to the bar where the young blonde was perched. This particular Friday night, Carl's was more crowded than Gunnar had ever seen. With tunes from the jukebox playing, people were chatting it up at the bar, the tables, the pool tables, and the at the dart board. The place was practically filled with an array of people he had never seen inhabit this bar before.

Not too long after did Tool come back to the table, a wild grin on his face, "You could all learn something from me." He stated triumphantly, showing them all his cell phone which now had a new phone number from "hot bar girl".

Ross rolled his eyes while bringing his beer to his lips, "She doesn't even look eighteen."

"Believe me, I can tell."

"Just make sure she doesn't pin you for statutory rape." Lee forewarned.

"You're all such wet napkins," He then looked at the Englishman, "You need to get laid."

The rest of the guys bust out in laughter at the stern face on the Brit, ordering another beer. Deciding to make amends, Tool pulled Lee over to the dart board to challenge him at a game. Since they were out in public they couldn't play with knives, substituting the weapons for darts. While the two bickered about who was better, the rest ordered another beer.

"Hey! Fancy seeing you guys here!"

Gunnar turned around, chuckling to see a wide grinned CJ in front of them. She had her red hair pulled back with a little poof on top, dangling silver earrings, a black tank top, and a pair of white short shorts. She had a beer in her hand, looking over to Ross and patting his shoulder, "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while."

The leader of the Expendables smiled warmly, "Hello, CJ, I never expected to see you here."

At that comment, Gunnar raised his eyebrow with a satisfied smirk; the female rolling her eyes and waving him off. She then panned around to see Tool and Lee throwing darts, pointing, "They look quite serious."

"They've been at that for years," Hale chuckled, "It'll never end. Maybe you should go there and kick their asses."

She laughed whole heartedly, "Oh please, I'd wind up throwing a dart into someone's eye."

The boys then invited her to sit down and stay for a while, a proposal she happily accepted. If possible the bar filled even more as the night went by. CJ had went over to the jukebox to throw in a couple of quarters, flipping through to finally come to the conclusion that some Led Zeppelin was in order. Gunnar gave a warm smile as he watched her plop back down next to him, now in the middle of a card game with Ross.

Out of the corner of his eyes he watched the weapon's creator pan the area, stopping cold. He could feel her body tense and her eyes open wide. He raised his own eyebrow as she cleared her throat, "I-I…I'm gonna…y'know go outside-smoke!"

Ross and Gunnar looked at each other, suspicious that something was wrong. By now Toll, Hale, and Yin were at the pool table, Tool was hitting on some girl, and Lee was making his way back to the table. He could see the serious expression on their faces, nodding while following them outside. There they found CJ blowing smoking out into the cool night air, "CJ, you ok?"

She slowly turned around, a very fake smile on her face, "Yea, just dandy. Needed some fresh air, it was becoming so stuffy in there."

The dark haired man wasn't buying it, about to say something as he heard the door for the outside open once again, "Yo, anyone got a smoke?"

All but CJ turned around to see who had just addressed them. He looked about 30, a tall skinny man with very pale skin. He wasn't skinny in a wimpy way; he had a lean figure with broad shoulders that showed out of the white ginnie-T he was wearing. The tall man had brown eyes and a bald head with tattoos covering his entire arms. Gunnar took time the notice the large scar on the side of his neck and the painfully obvious track marks on his arms. This gave him time to observe a tattoo that caught his attention; right under one of the track marks on his forearm it wrote _Crystal James._

The other three men shook their heads, Lee tucking his hands in his pockets, "Nah, mate, we don't smoke."

Nodding, his brown eyes then bore down on the girl, "Ey, what about you, CJ?"

Without looking his way, she took a cigarette out of her pack and handed one to him, "Thanks."

"No, problem, Roy."

Gunnar took in the one called Roy. He looked like the epitome of a drug addict, probably looking worse than he had before he had quit. The two didn't say another word to each other as Roy lit up, CJ marching back into the bar. Roy and Gunnar connected gazes as the three Expendables walked back in as well. Although now she wasn't waiting at the table, rather sitting at the bar. She was drinking water, determined not to let her encounter with her ex ruin the last six years.

As CJ sipped on her water, she felt a presence behind her, "What? You don't know me anymore?"

Blue eyes looking up, she shook her head, "No, I don't. I don't even know who she was."

"She _was _my girlfriend," Roy sneered and then pointed at the scar on his neck, "And the bitch who gave me this."

"And I can't have fucking children because of you."

"You know it was all your fucking fault."

CJ took a moment to calm down, breathing in, "Roy…it was the drugs. Can't you accept that? I'm trying as hard as possible to push that part of my life away."

Roy gripped her arm to pull her attention towards him, a stern look on his face, "It's been six years, Crystal. You just dropped off the face of the planet. Don't you think enough time has gone by for you to even give me a call?"

"You're still the same person," She then yanked her arm away from him angrily, gripping his arm to point to the marks on them, "You haven't changed at all."

"So you think you're better because you got clean? Bullshit!" He spat.

Fuming, the tan female clenched her fists, "Roy, please go. We're wrong for each other."

"Is there someone else? Huh!"

"What the fuck!" She screamed, "I haven't seen you in six fucking years. You stab me and rid me of my ability of having children and when I came back for my shit you had burned it all. The only thing you ever did good for me was for making me realize I didn't want drugs anymore."

Roy scoffed, folding his arms, "You came after me, fucking accusing and shit. You know I never cheated on you."

Her blue eyes calmed, touching his hand gently, "No, you never did. And for that, you're a great man. But, you and I both know it wasn't the first time we've used our fists."

Before the lean man was able to say anything, CJ stood up and walked away from the bar. She thought it best not to continue on with the conversation. That was a part of her life she wanted to forget, only using it as a foundation for a better life. This was her new life. She smile while walking back to the table, being brought back from her flashback from the past. The way life had been going for the past three years were wonderful and she wanted to keep it that way. And in order to do that she had to leave people like Roy behind.

Standing next to Gunnar, she grinned, "So, what did I miss?"

He looked at her sternly, "Are you ok?"

"Yea…just…personal shit."

The men looked at each other. They had all seen what was going on, deciding to not make a scene and get involved. That was her business and they all knew she could handle it. Gunnar wanted to help his friend out, knowing though if he had walked over there it would have insulted her. She was a woman who could take care of herself and she needed to handle shit with her ex-boyfriend on her own.

"Fucking bitch!"

Roy had lashed out, attempting to connect his fist with her cheek. Before that could even happen, CJ gripped his arm and flung him over her shoulder to land hard on the table, glass breaking. In a shift movement, she pulled out a small hand gun, pointing it to his temple, "You even come near me again, Roy, I'll fucking kill you!"

Even with a gun near his forehead, the junkie seethed with anger. Gunnar then reached over to yank him to his feet by his collar, "I think the lady has made her point."

After Roy had yanked himself away from the big man, he marched away sneering. When he was finally out of eyesight, CJ cracked her neck and put the gun away before anyone could see. She then took a look around her to see all the men of the Expendables were looking at her. She then sighed, "Can we not make a big deal out of this?"


	12. Chapter 12

TC Stark: Hey, guys, don't forget about me :P I know we all have busy lives so I'm sorry it's been a few days since I added! This is a little chapter, I apologize, but I hope you like it anyway. And if anyone has any ideas don't hesitate to throw them out, I can't wait to see how you guys react to what I have brewing up in my head! By the way, what did everyone think about Roy showing up?

Disclaimer: I only own CJ and Jenny.

Chapter 12

"You're crazy."

The next day Gunnar showed up at CJ's place with the proposal of teaching her how to ride a motorcycle. She was in the middle of playing the original Nintendo's Rambo, looking at him as if he had three heads. Like promised he never mentioned what had happened the night previous with her ex. Instead he thought it best to try and lift her spirits up by showing up at her house and getting her out of it. CJ was one amazing girl, but since she worked from home she was almost chained to that house of hers.

Holding a helmet in one hand, he gestured for her to take the other with a grin, "C'mon, CJ, let's get moving."

Giving out a sigh, she reached over to turn off her game system; allowing Gunnar to take a moment to observe her body bend over. She then stood up, cracking her back in an unhealthy way, "I can't drive that thing, it's huge! It's for giants like you."

"Excuses, excuses," He rolled his eyes, "I'm not leaving here until you agree."

"Ah, peer pressure; works every time."

The former junkie gave an amused smile as she finally grabbed the helmet from his hands. He then watched her escape to her room, returning moments later wearing jean shorts, a white tank top, a three quarter sleeve leather jacket, and a pair of combat boots. He took in a deep breath as she smirked up at him, slinking pass him with the helmet in her hand. After a quick chuckle, the large man turned on his heel and followed her out.

Ross was working on his own bike that day. He would like to think he had a beautiful bike of his own, having put a lot of money into it. Considering he rode his bike more than others, it was worth it in his mind to put so much money into it. And today he had brought it to a repair shop to buffer out the little dents and scratches that was on it.

The Vietnam veteran stood outside of the shop with his hands tucked into his pockets, feeling the cool breeze run through his black hair. It was getting colder and summer was ending. Soon he'd have to start wearing a jacket and the world would have a completely different emotion. In a way he was welcoming a change. Things now seemed repetitive and even something like a weather change would be nice. After all, there was no woman in his life at least he could rely on the weather to keep him stimulated.

At this point in his life he wondered if he could even get a woman. He felt worn from the years and knowing his age he didn't know if he would die alone. It was a terrible idea. Even though he had been so independent for so long, it was only normal that every human being longed for the compassion that could come from another human being.

Ross sighed as the nice young girl working at the shop came out to hand him his keys, "We're all ready, sir."

He gave her a warm smile, taking the keys from her hands, "Thank you, Ramona."

Ramona's father had owned this shop for the past 30 years and he would like to say he had been going to that shop for 25 of those years. He had watched Ramona grow up since she was a little girl running around her father's shop. Giving a weak smile, he wondered what it would be like to have a daughter. There were so many things he hadn't experienced in life regardless of all the uglies he had seen. He felt during his life he had seen so much of the ugly side and had missed out on so much of the beautiful side.

That afternoon he left with his polished beauty, bidding the young girl goodbye and telling her to tell her father he said hello. He thought that he could be like Tool. Even though the eccentric man was close in age to him, he still got with girls more than half his own age with little to no problem. But, then he thought that he couldn't be like that. It wasn't what he was looking for.

He didn't look at women like that. After plenty of near-death experiences he couldn't bring himself to look at women like that. Was he being too close minded? In his line of work he cared more about not getting shot at than trying to get a girl to have sex with him. His didn't know much about his comrades' love life except Tool's and Lee's. Besides that he had no idea in Yin did have any woman back in his home country, if Toll had a woman, if Hale really did have all the night rendezvous he always spoke about, and what was going on with Gunnar.

Slowly he rolled into a nearby diner, deciding he was hungry and he would grab something quick to eat. It was like any other diner. Simple with plenty of people piled in. He felt he stuck out like a sore thumb. Walking in, he instantly recognized a figured as he walked over, "There's gotta be more diners in this town."

Lee turned around, previously hunched over at the counter, "From how crowded it is, I would say this is the only one."

The older man sat next to his friend, ordering a coffee, "I'm beginning to not know what to do with myself."

"You're not the only one," The Englishman grumbled, bringing his beverage to his lips, "I'm considering applying for a job here."

Ross chuckled at the joke, asking his friend, "What about Lacy?"

"She's off doing some peace work with friends."

His eyes widened a little, nodding his head slowly, "I didn't know that. I didn't know she was like that."

"I think she just wanted to get away."

Seeing how subconsciously he was missing her, Ross held back the desire to voice how he thought the woman wasn't Lee's type. Truthfully he knew how into Lacy Lee was. Since the moment the bald man met the woman he couldn't shut up about her. Even on missions he was texting her, although he would never reveal to her where he was. Especially when they were stationed in Somalia he couldn't stop talking about how much he couldn't wait to get the mission over with so as to get back to Lacy to celebrate their anniversary.

Ross just hoped that Lee didn't miss his chance to be happy with another and would spend the rest of his life like him. In a blink of an eye he was 60 and had never been married and had never had children. Lee was still in his thirties; he still had time. Now that he thought about it, as long as the Expendables remained who they were, he couldn't see much room for them to be serious with women. Then again none of them could give it up; this was their lives.

Soon a woman in her mid-thirties was before them. She was tall with long jet black hair with the most amazingly beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. She had a large smile on her face, eying Ross, "What can I get for you boys?"

"I'll have the clam chowder." Lee requested.

"And anything for you, sir?"

Ross raised his eyebrow, scanning the menu quickly, "Ugh, just whatever looks good to you."

The black haired woman gave a smirked, eying him up and down, "Sure…whatever looks good."

The older man was baffled as the waitress walked away, craning her neck to keep eying him. Once she escaped into the kitchen, Lee jabbed his friend with his elbow, "That woman was checking you out."

"Probably wanted a big tip."

"Nah, mate, not like that."

Ross rolled his eyes as he brought his cup of coffee to his lips. As soon as he set his cup down, the black haired girl came over to fill it up. Their eyes connected for a moment as he smiled, "Thank you, miss."

Flipping her long hair behind her, she giggled as her eyes sparkled, "Please, call me Jenny."

His foot kicked the snickering Lee, nodding his own head slowly, "Well, thank you…Jenny."

Giving another giggle, Jenny pranced away as Lee raised his eyebrow. Ross shook his head once more, "Again, just a big tip."

"Sure, whatever you say, partner."


	13. Chapter 13

TC Stark: Once again, thank you, thank you to all my loyal fans. Your comments honestly make me wish to continue writing this and keep me pumped. Xoxox

Disclaimer: I only own CJ.

Chapter 13

After a fourth session of _teach CJ how to drive a bike, _Gunnar felt comfortable enough to take her back to his apartment. It wasn't anything special; a one bedroom with a half bathroom. Considering he spent most of his time hanging out with the boys, he felt no need to spend a lot on a place to sleep. Although, now that he had a woman over, he felt perhaps he should have put more effort into it.

Filled with a slight sense of anxiety, his eyes watched her wander around his place with her hands held behind her back. Her strides were leisurely, nodding her head in satisfaction, "Not bad…not bad. I was expecting red. Maybe even a Soviet Union look?"

"What?" He chuckled.

CJ turned around with a huge grin, "Well, you have this whole Ivan Drago look to you."

He strolled over to her, taking a glance at his walls, "Maybe I'll consider it."

The two smiled at each other. Before long Gunnar handed the red head a beer and granted her smoking privilege as long as she stood by the window. Unlike her, he had a working television which had more than three channels. He felt comfortable enough to rest himself into his couch to watch TV while she blew smoke out the window.

There was something attractive about CJ smoking. It wasn't the fact she was smoking, he hated that. Even with his ex-wife Alexia he hated it. And back then he would have no problem expressing his hatred for it, restraining himself with CJ considering they weren't linked like that. No, it certainly wasn't the fact she was smoking. It was just how damn coy she looked during the act. The way her lips pursed against the thing and how her hips leaned while she relaxed.

Gunnar certainly looked at her sexually. It wasn't an animalistic way where he felt the need to prey on her. It was really her personality. He was attracted to who was inside. Although he had no idea where this was headed, he knew he was enjoying their time together. Perhaps even one day…he'd like to take her out on a date to really discover what was going on.

After CJ threw her cigarette away and washed her hands, she joined the large man on the couch. She didn't sit right next to him, but stretched out her feet to rest on top of his lap. The two of them were drinking beers and flipping through channels.

Finally he stopped on the channel which was playing Law & Order: SVU at the request of the young lady. He saw how happy she was and couldn't help but smile himself, "A fan?"

"Once upon a time I wanted to be a detective."

"Why didn't you?"

CJ shrugged nonchalantly, "I was 15. That was before drugs and Roy came into the picture. Before I lost touch with myself. Besides, I find now I enjoy working with my hands. Its more mind stimulating than one thinks."

Gunnar nodded, getting up and leaving her to watch her show. He escaped to the bedroom and came back with a shoe box. She raised an eyebrow as he lifted her legs to sit close to her. A Polaroid picture was then shoved into her hands. Quickly, she cupped her hand over her mouth to contain her laughter. A much younger Gunnar with long blonde hair, a torn shirt, a leather jacket, and a Harley was placed in front of her. It was priceless.

"Look how hot you look!" She snickered, shaking her fingers through his now short blonde hair, "And that hair. Must have been driving the girls crazzzzy."

"Why do I have the distinct feeling you're mocking me?"

"Not at all, dear."

"Sure," He rolled his eyes, taking the picture back, "Like you've never gone through fazes."

At this she gave a devilish smirk, "I went through many, sir. I've had blonde, black, brown, red hair. All different type of wardrobes. I even for a brief moment in time had a pink Mohawk."

"Ok, I believe you," He laughed, "Many fazes."

"C'mon, show me another picture."

As he hands went to go reach for the box, he moved it out of her reach and shook his finger, "Nuh uh, darling. I won't be succumbed to that laughter again."

CJ explained she meant no harm, but the damage was done. He could only laugh as he put the box away, assured that her eyes were following him to see where he had put it. He then came back to the couch, "So, how about another practice run this weekend?"

"Not this weekend. I won't be around. A couple of girlfriends of mine are going to Florida for a long weekend."

"Oh?"

"Yea, my tan is fading," She mocked while flipping her hair, "You should come."

Rolling his eyes, Gunnar shook his head, "Oh yea, I'm sure you'd really want to bring me on vacation."

She then sat up Indian style, shrugging honestly, "Sure, why not?"

Looking at her, he was touched. And it was the truth. CJ wouldn't have minded going on vacation with the older man. They had fun together and it might have been a nice time to just lay by the beach and forget about the rest of the world. It was what she liked about going on vacation; it was a brief escape from one's real problems. Sure, eventually she'd have to go back, but she knew people like them needed a vacation once in a while.

In her 25 years of living, she hadn't had many sexual partners. Roy had taken up much of her teen life, never being one to cheat. She had also refrained from personal affairs while trying to get clean as to avoid making any stupid decisions. All in all she could safely say she could count all her sexual partners on one hand. So, for her to let him know her that personally she knew she liked him. In what way, she wasn't sure yet. She didn't know if she was ready to start thinking that way, all she knew is she enjoyed what they had at the moment.

"Well, I'll have to decline," He smiled kindly, in a way not wanting to intrude on her time with her girlfriends and also knowing it was too soon, "But, be safe."

A few days later, Lee Christmas was sitting inside his house willing Lacy to call him. It was driving him mad how he hadn't been able to contact her in so long. He knew that her vacation was coming to an end, so why wouldn't she at least let him know? He knew they weren't a couple and he shouldn't have been thinking so protectively, but he simply couldn't help it.

He had too much time to think. Without a job on the table and no Lacy around, his mind was free to wander. He hated when his mind did that. He became paranoid, thinking things a normal man shouldn't have been thinking. He wished Ross would take a job already, any little fucking job he didn't care. It was unnerving how much free time he had; there was only so many hours one could spend in the gym in order to get his blood pumping.

While contemplating how to keep himself sane, his phone began to ring. It was on the coffee table, remembering having thrown it in frustration. It was probably one of the boys, not sure if he even wanted to go out that night. It had become routine for them to visit bars and eat fucking hot wings. He was tired of that. Not that he needed to be shooting someone's head off every ten minutes, but he was truly bored.

Walking over to the coffee table, he was surprised to see Lacy's name appear on the screen. He thought for a moment his eyes were deceiving him and he considered not answering. Then again he wanted to hear her voice badly, so he answered, "Hello, Lacy?"

"Lee, help!"

Lee's eyebrows furrowed, he heard fear in her voice. It was shaken and he knew she had been crying, "Lacy! What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, Lee, all my crew is dead. I've been captured and-"

He heard her scream and the connection went dead.


	14. Chapter 14

TC Stark: Alright, I officially suck. Sorry for not adding for a couple of days. I don't want to let my fans down, I feel so terrible. Thank you all for being so patient and please continue to read and enjoy. I do have great ideas for the rest of this story, but school and work get in the way lol Damn responsibilities! But, I will never abandon this story so just hang tight

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 14

During the American Revolutionary War there were such things as minutemen. These were an elite group of men who were required to spring into action at a _minute's _notice. There were even rumors that these men would sleep in their uniforms so that no matter what time it was these men were ready to go. There were some controversy to the speed of these men, but none the less these young men were relied on the heat of battle.

Even though historically these able bodied men were between the ages of 16 and 30, Ross felt like a minuteman his whole life. Even in the wake of tranquility he felt on edge. This silence was deafening and this calm period was driving him mad. He couldn't help but think that something was up, never in his life had there been such a calm period. And as much as he would have liked to enjoy such thing, he felt like right now was not the right time.

Then his heart jumped. Opening his eyes up, he noticed his cell phone vibrating on the nightstand. It was quite late into the night for Lee Christmas to be calling him. They almost never spoke at this time. So, he picked up in concern, "Hello?"

"Lacy's in trouble!"

A hop, skip, and a jump later Ross met Lee in the warehouse the Expendables usually did their serious work. He seemed in a panic, the older man worried for him, "Lee, what's wrong?"

"It's Lacy!" The Englishman was pacing, running his hands over his bald head, "I didn't know what to fucking do. I've been in a panic for hours, so much shit is going through my-"

"Lee! Think straight!"

Finally he took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, "Two hours ago I got a call from Lacy. She was screaming for help and said she was captured."

Ross looked at his friend confused, panic was obviously taking over him as he snapped, "What are you looking at me like that for! Lacy could be dead!"

"Alright, Lee, calm down. We'll figure this out," He then placed his hands on the other man's shoulders, "Just take a deep breath."

Lee knew he continued talking he would never calm down. Rather he walked off to the corner so that the other could make the necessary phone calls to the rest of _The Expendables. _All types of thoughts fluttered through his mind. Where the hell was she? He knew it was a wrong idea, what was that girl thinking? He understood she wanted to help, but God after knowing what he did for a living couldn't she realize that going to impoverish countries without proper security was dangerous?

Ying showed up at the place in a suit and a brief case, Ross raised his eyebrow and tilted his head, "What's up with the suit?"

The shorter man scoffed while placing his briefcase on the desk, adjusting his suit jacket, "I _was _doing something when you called and demanded I come over."

The two muscular men raised their eyebrows at each other, Lee placing his hands on his hips, "Well…I appreciate you leaving whatever you were _doing._"

"So what's going on?"

"Lacy called me and she's in trouble."

Ying nodded his head, sitting down and setting up his computer. He asked for Lee's cell phone so that he could plug it into his laptop. While he traced the call, Toll Road strolled in, "Damn, you guys know it's five in the morning, right?"

Lee grunted, "Listen, Toll, I'm sorry, but this is serious."

The two bald men spoke, one explaining to the other what was going on. Everyone knew how much Lee was into Lacy and regardless of how things had ended between them he would do anything for that girl. Soon Hale and Gunnar followed in, Hale cracking his back, "God, I haven't woken this early since I was in high school."

"Don't you mean you were going to bed at that time?" Gunnar chuckled.

Lee quickly caught the others up, all very serious. Toll folded his arms, a stern look on his face, "We're gonna need weapons."

"No," The Englishman shook his head, "I just want Ying to find out where she called from and then I'm getting her myself."

"Lee, we're coming with you." Ross stated.

"It's not your problem."

Gunnar folded his own arms, looking at him seriously, "Lee, we're a team. And she's in trouble; we're going wherever she is."

Lee looked around at his companions; they were all looking at him with strict gazes. He knew that there was no way he would be changing any of their minds. In times of crisis you always found out who your true friends were. It was almost stupid to him that all of them were going to risk their lives for a girl that he wasn't even really with.

Ying was still trying to figure out where Lacy had made the call from, Toll continuing his previous thought, "We're going to have to call that CJ girl for weapons."

All the men nodded their heads as Gunnar took in a deep breath and tucked his hands in his pockets, "That's gonna be a bit of a problem."

"Why?" Ying asked?

"She's on vacation in Florida?"

Hale turned his head slowly, raising an eyebrow, "How do you…."

"So we'll be finding someone else for this." The tall man blurted out, not quite ready to reveal what had been going on between him and CJ. Especially considering what was currently going on.

Ross also gave his friend a look, but wanted to concentrate more on the problem at hand, "I'm sure we have some weapons left over from the last mission."

Things became silent in the room afterwards. It seemed like Ying was at that computer for hours. There was no joking, no cackles, and no fun. What was on Lee's mind was Lee. He couldn't imagine joking around right now with her life in danger. If he even dared to crack a smile he might feel terrible that while he was having fun she was being hurt. He just prayed that when they got to her it wasn't too late and that he would never get a chance to make things right between them.

Gunnar felt bad for the guy. They may have been tough men, but they certainly weren't evil men. Ross had risked his life for a woman he had barely known and all of them had followed because they wanted to support their friend. If they had followed him through that there was no doubt they would follow Lee on his mission to save the woman he loved. After all, he was one of the lucky ones.

"Let's hope we're not dealing with a fucking army like last time."

They all looked over at Toll who was shrugging, "We don't have the equipment like last time."

"We don't even know where we're going; let's not think pessimistically just yet." Ross said.

"Well, I think I have found where she called from."

Everyone looked over at Ying, Lee's heart pounding. He would surely kill whoever dared to hurt Lacy. No matter what the challenge he would overcome it, "Where?"

"Vilena."


	15. Chapter 15

TC Stark: Hey! Thank you to all my faithful reviewers for your great advice and support! I promise this all will get better, but just know you guys are my inspiration and I never thought this story would be so like. Thank you all!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ.

Chapter 15

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me."

Lee Christmas couldn't believe his luck. After that whole ordeal in Vilena he vowed he would never return to that God forsaken land ever again. They were all lucky to get out of that place alive the last time. A pang in his stomach almost told him to abort mission, but there was no way he'd let Lacy down like that. Even if it did mean going back to Vilena. Jesus didn't he have all the luck in the world.

Hale threw his hands up in the air, clearly frustrated, "Man, we gotta go back there!"

"No one says you have to go." Lee retorted.

"Take it down a notch, Lee," Ross placed a hand on the other man's shoulder, nodding his head slowly, "We're going regardless."

But Lee couldn't hear anything. All he could do was concentrate on his phone. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. In all the years he had been a member of The Expendables he had been on a lot of life threatening missions. None of which had put his life in so much danger and which look so damn impossible to get out of like Vilena. It was also the first mission he had been on with no money as a result. God he felt like he was going through fucking déjà vu.

Ross made the decision to leave for their new adventure the next morning, dismissing all his men to get a good nights sleep. For Gunnar that meant going to Carl's bar. Last time he had never made it to that side of the region and regrettably he was on the other side of the fence. From what he had heard from the others it was going to be a challenge. Always being one for challenges, he found himself almost a little excited. They were going to be working with used weapons on an adventure that they weren't even sure what was going to happen.

He also felt bad for Lee. There was a lot at stake this time. Lacy was one great girl and all the Englishman wanted was to shield her from the dangerous part of his life. He knew right now the man was kicking himself, although what was to say if he had never revealed who he was that this wouldn't have happened anyway?

Gunnar had another thought as he took the brim of his glass to his lips. Considering what had just happened earlier today, his mind felt a little fuzzy. He couldn't remember if CJ was coming home later tonight or tomorrow. Either way he didn't think he'd be able to let her know he would be away for a while. It felt shitty to him, she had been so nice to let him know she would be MIA for a while and now he wouldn't be able to return the favor.

Gunnar hoped that the younger girl was having fun. It may have sounded terrible, but he wasn't aware she had many girlfriends. She always struck him as a bit of a tomboy, a very attractive tomboy at that. She welded and seemed to get along very well with men. The only part of her that hinted to him that perhaps she would have girlfriends was her outrageous outfits and her club addiction.

CJ had invited the older man on vacation with her. He wondered how that even would have been. What were her friends have thought of this very attractive girl hanging out with a much older man? It seemed to both of them the age difference was none existent, but he couldn't imagine other people would think the same. Her friends may think wrong of her to be hanging around someone like him, though it would have been nice to get away.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Gunnar turned around to see the very eccentric Tool walking up behind him. The tall man raised his eyebrow, "Never expected you here, buddy."

Tool chuckled while sitting down and ordering a drink, "Needed to stretch these legs."

The two men chuckled as Carl came back with Tool's first and Gunnar's second. It was pretty early and there were no girls for his friend to scout out. Instead it was just two friends enjoying a beer before one would have to leave, "So, I heard what was going on."

"Oh, yea? Who told you?"

"Lee came into my place all frustrated. I hadda send a girl home he was so upset."

Gunnar chuckled, why wasn't he surprised, "Well, we won't be around for a while."

"Let's hope you all come back alive."

"That's reassuring."

Tool laughed, patting his friend on the back, "Eh, relax, just trying to joke around."

"Do you think we're getting too old for this?"

The two looked at each other. Although Gunnar felt better than he ever had before on a count of being clean, he wondered how much longer he could keep this up. Lee, Toll, and Hale were young and could handle the stresses of their bodies for much longer. But, men like him and Ross were getting up there and he wondered just how long it would be until they threw in the towel like Tool. Gunnar thought especially of himself, being an intense drug addict for so long he knew how much it hurt his body and he wondered if he'd still be doing this when he got to Ross's age.

Shrugging, the retired Expendable replied, "Are you thinking about sitting this one out?"

He shook his head, "God no. Lee needs all of our help. I let them down last time, I'm not gonna do it again."

"Gunnar," Tool started seriously, "You can't keep beating yourself up. You did some bad shit, yea. But, c'mon, we've all put it behind us. It's time you put it behind you."

The blonde took in his friend's words carefully. It was hard for him to work on getting clean and forgiving himself at the same time, "Do you ever miss it?"

Tool gave a sly grin, taking a swig of his beer, "All you muscle heads get your kicks from this shit. Me; I prefer to get my blood pumping a different way now."

"That's for sure." Gunnar rolled his eyes.

"You needa find yourself some little cute thing, what about CJ? If you don't jump on that, I will."

Turning to his friend, the blonde gave him an amused smirk, "And what makes you think she'd get with you?"

The taller man chuckled once the other winked, "I saw the way she was looking at me. That tattoo was a total excuse for me to touch her. I know it."

"That's a tad arrogant, don't ya think?"

Tool shrugged while taking another sip. He really didn't see himself slowing down anytime soon. Years ago he had made the conscious decision to leave the rough and tough lifestyle of the Expendables to enjoy a relaxing life. It was a really great life; tattooing and chasing girls. He really couldn't be happier. There was no real risks; no option of getting his head blown off. He knew his friends were tough men, but secretly he did always worry about their safety each time they went off. In his lifetime he had lost a lot of good friends. The Expendables were down to six members; he didn't need anymore loses.

After his second beer the tall man stretched himself back, breathing out a large sigh, "We never go anywhere nice."

"Well, what were you expecting? A trip to Paris?"

The two laughed, "Might be nice."

"You in Paris would be like a bull in a China shop."

Rolling his eyes, Gunnar replied, "Oh, because you'd be so elegant there."

"Another round, gentlemen?" Carl then asked.

For a moment Gunnar considered ordering a third beer, but he was good and held himself back. Tool ordered a third, Carl gladly serving the tall man a glass of water. The two finished up at Carl's bar, going their separate ways that night. Tool had scouting to do and Gunnar had preparing to do. He wasn't going to pack much, only durable clothing and his weapons. It wasn't like they were traveling to a summer vacation home.

While making sure all of his guns were loaded, Gunnar took a look at his walls, thinking perhaps…they'd look good red.


	16. Chapter 16

TC Stark: Thank you to polkadotprincess09 and Liliesshadow for reviewing ^^ You guys are right, there should be more pranking and I'm looking forward to getting back to some Gunnar/CJ. So, I hope everyone likes this chapter. There's a little action here, which I don't always write so if you have any suggestions let me know. Also, there's a little Spanish at the end and since I don't speak Spanish, I used Google Translate haha

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 16

The flight to Vilena was a quiet one. Unlike so many trips before, there were no jokes, no laughter, and no cocky remarks. Usually when the Expendables went on an expedition there were beers and some playful bantering. It was important when going on a trip that was possibly life threatening to keep an upbeat attitude.

The first day was also to no avail. Ross observed that the country was filled with fresher air than it was the first time. It made him a little suspicious that a country that seemed to be doing better was the place where Lacy was supposedly kidnapped. Could it possibly be that they got it wrong?

There was something a little weird going on. For the first day the members of the elite mercenary group traveled around town, trying to get some answers. Every single person stopped met their friendliness with avoidance. It was like they were forbidden; something was preventing these people from even associating with them. Before Ross was met with rudeness; now they weren't saying anything at all. The country may have seemed to be doing better, but no one seemed to be very welcoming towards them.

The weather was certainly nice though in this country. The full sun permitted Gunnar and Toll to enjoy a beer at an outside café. Neither one of them spoke the language, which resulted in a lot of pointing in order to get their point across. Sitting down, they both observed a lot of stares and whispers. It wasn't too long ago that the Expendables created mayhem on this land; neither of them surprised at the not too warm welcome.

Toll spun his head around in all different directions, his eyebrows furrowed, "What do they keep looking at?"

"Your ears." Gunnar replied jokingly.

"Haha."

Gunnar looked around, taking a swig of his beer, "We obviously stand out. They're probably afraid of a repeat. You guys destroyed a lot."

Toll shrugged, "Not anything which deserved to be destroyed."

As the demolitions expert placed his empty glass down, a young waitress came to his aid. The two men couldn't help but avert their eyes up towards her, observing her exotic beauty. She looked at them with warm eyes, her sultry voice asking, "Would you like another, sir?"

They both nodded and as soon as she walked away, Gunnar made a comment, "She was friendly."

"First one this day."

Gunnar laughed, "That's for sure."

It didn't take long for the waitress to come back with their drinks, setting them down as the muscular men nodded in gratitude. Her smile was radiant as she tucked a strand of raven black hair behind her ear, "You two are American, yes?"

The two nodded as she explained kindly, "You mustn't blame my people. A couple of months ago some American men came and created quite a stir," Gunnar and Toll looked at each other; "We're trying to recover. It's for the best really. A terrible dictator we had. His daughter Sandra though is lovely, really. She's trying to rebuild our land. Although, there is a group still trying to live out General Garza's visions; why I don't know."

"Well, we don't mean to cause any trouble; just…bird watch." Gunnar lied, pointing to the pair of cameras of the table. It was a lie the group used often and he wondered how long they could get away with it.

The waitress smiled again before she was called by her boss to stop fraternizing. As soon as she turned around, Toll leaned in closer to his partner, "Did you hear her? There's a rebel group! They could have captured Lacy."

Gunnar nodded, thinking the same thing as the two stood up and put down enough money to pay for their drinks and a gracious tip. Immediately the rest of the mercenaries were called and set to meet in the outskirts of the land. The strong men were standing near two jeeps with arms folded, Ross asking, "So what did you find out?"

"Well, apparently there's a rebel group." Toll explained.

Lee almost held his breath, not wanting to imagine the kind of things the rebel group could be doing to Lacy. Shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts, he asked, "Did you guys find anything else out?"

The taller man shook his head, "No, just that the rebel group exists. And that we're not very well liked."

"Gee, I wonder why," Hale rolled his eyes, "You can't accuse us of not leaving a lasting impression."

"Well, let's stop standing around." Ying suggested.

Ross turned to his smaller friend, replying, "We don't want to make any brash decisions. We're going to try and make this as quiet as possible."

"Is that ever possible?" Lee asked.

For a moment they all laughed. Ying was looking all around, his eyes going wide, "DUCK!"

The roar of a bullet soon entered Ross's ears as he dashed behind one of the jeeps, suddenly all of the men at arms. In a flash there were men crawling out of the bushes, screaming at the top of their lungs. The field was a chaos of screaming and bullets flying, at least 25 men appearing. Gunnar growled, loading his gun quickly, "We were fucking sitting ducks!"

Gripping tightly on to his weaponry, Hale swung his body up, "Well, guess it's time to fly!"

Quickly two men were shot down to the ground, the other men retaliating. The Expendables jetted out from behind their jeeps, taking their turns with the men attacking them. Gunnar took the initiative to charge towards one, shocking the man at his gigantic size; giving him the advantage to grab the man and deck him square in the jaw. With the man unconscious, he picked his limp body up to throw at another man who was charging towards him.

Ying was perched up on top of the jeep, being able to have a good view of the attacking men. He then jumped down to drop kick one of the men, turning around to shoot another in the stomach. Toll jumped behind one of the soldiers, quickly snapping his neck. As another came to attack him, the former wrestler grabbed the soldier's head, slamming him face first into his knee.

"Ross!"

The older man averted his eyes to Hale, tossing a gun over to the weapons specialist so he could use it to blow in one of the men's face. Lee on the other hand had flung a knife of his into another soldier's face, sprinting forward to yank his knife out and jump over the dead body to stab another one. A third soldier went to swing a huge gun across the Brit's cheek, Gunnar reaching out to grip the gun. With fear in the soldier's eyes, he lifted the man off his feet and caved his face in.

With bullets still flying everywhere, Ying and Ross jumped behind a boulder to reload their guns, "We're running out of bullets!"

"Then use arrows!" Ross yelled, his large hands quickly reloading, "You go first!"

The Asian man turned to his friend in the heat of battle, screaming back, "Why!"

"Because you're smaller!"

Ying rolled his eyes as the two jumped up out of their hiding space, opening fire. One by one though the soldiers started to disappear, the Expendables very good at what they did. It ended with only one soldier left, falling down on his bloodied knees in exhaustion. Full of adrenaline pumping through his veins, Lee marched over to grip the man's collar and pull him up to eye level.

"¡Suéltame!"

Lee sneered, tightening his grip and shaking him, "Where the fuck is Lacy!"

The soldier sneered as well, spitting in the bald man's face, "Voy a decirte nada!"

The other men stood around as their companion punched the soldier in the face. He screamed as blood splattered from his lips, "Where is she!"

It was clear that the soldier wasn't going to tell him anything, Lee throwing him on the ground in frustration. Blood was now staining the grass around him as Lee went in to kick the man in the stomach. Before he was able to do it again, Ross gripped his friend's shoulder and shook his head, "It's not worth it, we'll find Lacy."

"He has to know where she is!"

"Well, last time I checked none of us know Spanish and he clearly doesn't know English!"

The other men stood in silence, all sensing Lee's frustration. They had just taken on a good sized amount of men, wasted a lot of their already little amount of bullets, and were no closer to finding Lacy. It was only a matter of time though before the rebellion sought them out. Garza had been so adamant about ending the "American disease" and no doubt his men would jump on the first sight of any Americans in their land.

The last living soldier seemed to be slowly breathing his last breath, Lee shoving him away with his foot. They all looked at each other and nodded, knowing they'd have to regroup and find a way to get more weapons. They could always fly back to New Orleans and pick up more weapons, but no one wanted to take the risk of taking even more time to save Lacy. Every moment was valuable.

"¡Abajo los americanos!"

The Expendables quickly spun around to see that the dying man clearly was still alive. His hands were shaking and he was pointing a gun at them. Before anyone had a chance to react, they watched as his brains were completely blown out of the sides of their skulls. Each one of them stood shocked as they watched the bushes move and a figure come out.

"Hello, boys."

They all turned to the direction of the voice and widened their eyes. Out of the bushes stood a smirking woman. Smoke was seeping out of the gun that was held in her hand, blowing it off and sticking in back into the belt holder. Her red hair was tied back into a ponytail; wearing a tight white tank top around her lean abs, low rise beige pants, black combat boots, and two guns hanging off her hips. She then leaned her hips to the side and placed her hands on them.

CJ smirked, "You all certainly know how to draw attention."


	17. Chapter 17

TC Stark: So, I'd hate to be cocky, but here's the chapter people have been waiting for! Lol Meaning CJ's in it =P So, a side note, I'm taking a film class right now and I have a paper due next Thursday on who we think is sort of a sex symbol. Like a sex symbol that sort have set it off for others. And why not do a paper on Dolph Lundgren and how he was one of the original "manly men". =P Exciting, huh? Well, anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 17

CJ stood in front of the men with a smirk on her lips, observing the shocked looks on their faces. What the hell was she doing here? It was certainly surreal. Sure they had seen her handle a gun in the face of her ex-boyfriend, but to see her blow out someone's brains was shocking. And how did she even know where they were? The rest of the mercenaries hadn't spoken to her since that moment in the bar; so how was she here?

Lee was highly skeptical, clearing his throat, "CJ…what the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that anyway to greet me?" After the Brit gave her a look she giggled and explained, "I got back from Florida three days ago and when Gunnar wouldn't return any of my phone calls I decided to go to Tool's. He ugh…explained everything to me and here I am."

Gunnar could feel his comrades' eyes on him as Toll asked, "How'd you get here?"

CJ grinned, cooing, "I know people."

"This is really dangerous, CJ."

"Does it look like I don't know how to handle myself?" The red head chuckled, pointing her finger in a certain direction, "Besides, I had the slightest inkling you'd need my services. Y'know, just a hunch."

The men could feel their spirits lifting with now knowing they were no longer in trouble when it came to the weapons department. The leader had no idea of her skills on the battlefield, but she brought the weapons and that was good enough for him. It seemed like everything for now was calm as she lead the group of men towards her jeep where her stash was waiting to be drooled over.

Hale made sure to trail behind the rest of the men, motioning for Gunnar to stay behind with him. The tall man raised his eyebrow, "What's up, Hale?"

"Is something going on between you and CJ!"

Gunnar furrowed his eyebrows, looking exasperated and making sure the rest of the crew weren't in hearing ranch, "Is that really an appropriate topic to be discussing right now!"

Hale stopped his paces to mockingly touch his heart, "Oh, atta boy, Gunnar! Ah, now if only Tool were here." He added on while wiping a fake tear from his eye.

Rolling his eyes, the sniper marched after his crew with the demolitions expert snickering behind him. He had to admit it was a nice surprise to see her here. It made him a little sad knowing she was trying to contact him, though at least she was smart enough to know he wasn't ignoring her and reached out to Tool. But, now that she was here that meant she was open to all the dangers that went along with it and he didn't want anything to happen to her.

She looked very nice dressed in her spin of a combat outfit. It didn't surprise him in the least that even on a mission she decided to put a look together. She seemed almost excited to be joining the group and helping them out. Ross had ordered for Ying and Gunnar to look out just in case of another attack while the rest gazed about the weapons CJ brought. He could only surmise she got here by a private plane to be able to carry so many weapons.

Lee packed his belt with a number of hands guns while Toll played with one of the bigger ones. Ross almost smirked at the young female, "I'm assuming you'll be wanting some money for this?"

CJ smirked as well, folding her arms, and leaning against the jeep, "Under different circumstances, yes. But, considering what's going on…just be sure to cover my ass."

Ross nodded with a smile, taking a look himself at the weapons. Hale looked at some of the grenades lying around, sighing, "Guess we'll be blowing up things after all."

"If it comes down to that," Ross replied, "Let's keep a clear head."

"I'm not holding back." Lee sneered while waving around a butterfly knife.

"In the mean time, wanna stop waving that around?"

The bald headed man respected CJ's requests, putting the knife away. Ying and Gunnar were then able to go pick out their weapons as Toll and Lee took turns watching out. Ross then explained to everyone how he thought it would be a better idea to split up in smaller groups. All together they were just sitting ducks and would draw too much attention. Spread out with good weapons they might just be able to get some information to the whereabouts of Lacy.

"I feel like we should be riding around a fucking mystery machine." Toll scoffed with his arms folded.

"Well, you'd fit in well as Scrappy Doo." CJ snickered.

"Kinda look like him too." Hale added.

The men chuckled at Toll's scrunching face, Ross patting his friend's back. He then began to explain the game plan, explaining Gunnar would be staying behind to watch over CJ. Even though he didn't mind spending time with her, he wondered why he was getting short changed out of the action, to which Ying replied, "Because you're bigger."

"I don't want to hold anyone back," CJ spoke and then pointed to her jeep, "Besides, I have plenty of firearms. I can protect myself."

The blonde shook his head, laying down his law, "No, there's no way you're being left alone."

She mocked saluted him as he rolled his eyes, catching Hale's toothy grin out of the corner of his eyes. No one else had caught on, all being too preoccupied with the task at hand. Luckily there were two other jeeps for the two groups to leave in, Gunnar and CJ staying behind. They were directed to the southeast area of the town to drive around and see if anything looked out of the ordinary.

Gunnar found that in the presence of such a beautiful woman that people were more willing to speak to them. Most though seemed scared to talk about a rebellion, claiming that everything was fine. He knew he wasn't crazy, the waitress at that coffee shop told them about the rebellion group. If she were so willing to reveal this, why were others so scared to speak about such?

The sun was slowly setting that day, none of the group any closer to finding Lacy. Gunnar knew Lee wasn't feeling too happy and it must have been hard for him to even crack a smile knowing she was somewhere in this land. From a quick talk over a walkie talkie, Ross decided to keep the group split for the night, suggesting if possible not to stay at a hotel. Gunnar knew the reason why, it would have been easier for rebels to recognize them as Americans and in such a confined space as a hotel who knew what would happen. That would mean sleeping in the jeep.

The two currently were perched in the car on a street which looked very occupied for nighttime. One could guess that this was Velina's night life, seeing a completely different side of this place than in the light of day. Much darker people walked the streets that night; girls looking to make a quick buck, men looking to spend a quick buck, and everything else in between.

"I'm surprised you're not trying to go clubbing here." The muscular man joked around in his position in the passenger seat.

The girl raised her chin, "I'm on duty, darlin'. No play for me."

He laughed, feeling the cool night air hit his skin as she rolled down the driver side window so to blow cigarette smoke out. A moment passed before Gunnar asked, "So, Tool told you everything, huh?"

"Yup. I quite like the name. _The Expendables_. Very creative."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

CJ smiled largely at him before taking another pull of her cigarette, "I had an inkling. There was no way a group of men like you were using that type of firepower on someone you had beef with."

She always made a point of glorifying the members of the Expendables, giving Gunnar a bit of a big head. In attempts to change the subject, he asked, "How was vacation?"

Referring to her skin, she smirked, "Wonderful. I love laying out in the sun and going in the water. You still should have came."

"Yea…but then I wouldn't have been there for my boy," He replied referring to Lee, "Next time, maybe?"

"Good, that way I won't have to deal with having to leave the hotel room for my friends."

Gunnar turned his head over, raising an eyebrow. She was giving him a sincere smile right now, letting him know that while on her vacation she had not touched another man. Since the beginning they had not talked about where they stood. He hadn't considered being with another woman, but assumed that since she was young and a bit of a wild child that maybe she would do something. She was free to do whatever she wanted, but it was nice to hear.

After CJ finished her cigarette and flicked the butt out the window, she rested her tired head on the shoulder of the larger man. Just like before, Gunnar couldn't help himself as he tilted her chin up to leave her lips exposed. Soon his own lips were on hers, breathing in her air. Both seemed as if they were waiting for this, it having been a long time since the last time they had connected like this.

His fingers ran through her silky hair to pull her closer, CJ sitting up to better kiss him. His testosterone was running wild as his hands ran themselves up her thighs. Her void was now burning with desire as she couldn't up but lift herself over to the passenger's seat. With her legs now straddling his waist, she could feel his bulge begging to be released. With her lips still on his, her hips freely rocked to rub her lower half against his, allowing a groan to escape him.

His blood was pumping as her fingers gently gripped his blonde hair and his hands held tightly onto her hips. Even though they were in a jeep in a foreign country, CJ couldn't help but let her animalistic instincts take over as she took her own top off. Gunnar groaned at the prospect of seeing her beautiful chest once again, eagerly reaching back to unclip her bra. His smile was large as she giggled at the cold feel of his hands, having cracked the windows open slightly.

CJ's lips hung open as she felt his lips roam to the skin of her neck, pulling her closer to him. With her head spinning, her hands went to unbuckle his belt and undo his pants zipper. With little effort Gunnar had her pants off, running his hands against the bare skin of her legs. He loved how smooth she felt and how amazing her body was. What he thought was truly beautiful about her body were all the flaws. Every scar, every piercing, every tattoo made him admire her even more. She was gorgeous in every sense of the word.

He felt her fingers run up his large biceps, smirking at the feel of his body. There was something so sexy about him and belt in his arms. He had a sexual pull that reeled her in, willing her to take charge. With his member out of his pants, he moved the little piece of cloth that covered her sheath to the side. While positioning himself against her, he took a moment to observe her underwear, which had a pair of red lips in the front.

Gunnar chuckled as she raised her eyebrow, "What?"

"Cute underwear."

CJ's blue eyes looked down at what she was wearing to laugh for a moment. For a moment they were taken out of the moment to laugh, Gunnar reaching out to pull her closer to give her a sincere kiss. Slowly she eased his penis inside of her, rolling his eyes into the back of his head. She felt so warm and tight and connected with her. He then held her hand as she moved him deep inside of her, both breathing heavily as their lips connected once more.

Sure there was a chance that the two would be caught. After all they were located on a public street near a very active nightlife. Hopefully if someone did happen to notice they'd roll their eyes and continue on considering there were a couple of street walkers. Although this wasn't America, who knows what would happen if someone caught them. Then again as Gunnar continued to push inside of her, he thought _who the hell cares?_


	18. Chapter 18

TC Stark: So I'm so so so so sorry it's been a while since I've added. I wanted to get this chapter out sooner, but I was working on my paper and wanted to put all my concentration on that to get an A lol So, please enjoy and thank you all for sticking with me! Reviews always make me happy and drive me to add sooner ^^ As always, suggestions are welcomed!

Disclaimers: I only own CJ. Also, only again, I used Google translator, so forgive me!

Chapter 18

Luckily when Gunnar and CJ awoke the next day in each other's arms, no one had seemed to notice. If someone had walked by they didn't bother to wake the two, both feeling sheepish to realize they were perched in a car in the middle of an alleyway with their clothes off. The windows were then immediately opened and the two slipped their clothes on.

After not hearing from any other member of the team, they decided to get out of the car and walk around. Partially they were walking to stretch their legs and partially they were walking to interact more with the people. There was a brief moment when the Expendable looked at the white grin of the girl below him and could truly smile. They may had not been in a great situation but with CJ he could find himself getting slightly lost.

As the two continued to walk, CJ lit up one of her cigarettes, "This place ain't half bad. I might consider moving here."

"Really?" Gunnar questioned and gave her a knowing eyebrow raise.

"No," She waved off, "It's a nice thought. Though, New Orleans isn't bad. Just a change of scenery is nice every once in a while."

"And where would you move to?"

CJ took a pull of her cigarette, trying to think, "I'm not sure…besides, it'd be hard to rebuild my business if I moved. And I couldn't stand going through a struggling period again. My job requires me to be sorta stationary. Yours on the other hand allows you to travel."

He then chuckled and shook his head, "We're not necessarily sipping on margaritas on our trips, darlin'."

"You could," She gave him a devilish look; "It would make work more entertaining."

The two laughed as they then turned into a local café, both starved. Frowning, Gunnar realized he couldn't read the menu. You would think after all the world traveling they did that any of the Expendables would have caught on to a couple of languages. Truthfully he wasn't very good at them. His parents had tried to teach him Swedish when he was younger, but he never took much interest in bothering to learn.

Gunnar growled in frustration, talking aloud to himself, "Jesus, all I want is a fucking coffee."

"Dos cafes por favor."

The man behind the counter nodded as he went to go fetch their order, the tall man looking down at his companion who was smiling modestly. He stated he didn't know she knew Spanish to which she replied, "Very little. I find Italian and Spanish are very similar therefore I just caught on to the essentials. Besides…coffee…café…"

The younger girl was now giggling at the man's rolling eyes, their coffees being placed in front of them. It was typical in other countries for coffee to not be served in a to-go cup, rather mugs so that the customer would be forced to sit down and enjoy. Too often Americans were rushing through their lives and never took the time to just relax and enjoy themselves. It was a little step, but just stopping for coffee added a little more relaxing time.

"So, who is this Lacy girl? Is she Lee's girlfriend?"

"Not really."

CJ raised an eyebrow as he went on to explain the situation, the red head listening intently. He explained everything from them dating, to the boys teasing him, to her leaving him, and even the story Lee told him about the basketball court. The two were sitting at one of the tables outside as she lit up, asking, "Why didn't Lee just tell her what he was doing?"

Shrugging, he replied, "I guess he didn't want to put her in danger…or felt maybe she wouldn't accept his lifestyle. Who knows. He does really care about her though or else we wouldn't be here."

Nodding herself, she took another pull, "Well, you know what they say, honesty is the best policy. What does she look like?"

Gunnar then took his wallet out, taking out the picture that was given to him to help him find Lacy. He watched the girl's blue eyes observe the person in the photo, her facial features lifting, "Wow, she's beautiful."

"Yea, never met her before, but Lee picked a pretty one."

"It's nice….that Lee would go to such lengths for her despite what had happened."

Nodding, he had a thought for a moment. He was glad that CJ wasn't the type of girl to just up and leave whatever they were doing simply because she didn't know what he did for a living. After finishing their coffees, the two continued on their walk. If it weren't for the fact they were suppose to be looking for Lacy this would have been a nice day.

Fifteen minutes into their walk CJ narrowed her eyes and spoke lowly, "Do you see that man?"

Gunnar knew she was trying to be discreet, shifting his eyes in all different directions. He finally gazed upon who she was talking about. He looked like a normal looking native, nothing too out of the ordinary. Keeping his eyes forward, the tall man nodded slightly as she whispered, "He's been staring at us this whole way."

The Expendable tilted his head as they continued on, making sure his hand loomed over the gun hanging from his belt. The two quickly looked at each other before CJ linked her hands behind her back and blissfully turned into an alleyway. Gunnar chuckled only slightly as he continued to walk on, curious to see what she had up her sleeve.

She had to admit she had never been in a position like this. Beings a weapons distributor, she was on the other side of the action. And most of her clients weren't big shots like these men were, excited at the possibility of something different. It may have been her inexperienced mind, but she was really excited to be a part of the effort to find Lacy. Life had been so dull before she ran into Ross and Lee and now she was happy she had.

"Are you lost, miss?"

Turning around coyly, the red head came face to face with her following stranger. He had a fake concerned look on his face and tilted his head, "Oh, yes, it's my first time here."

"American?"

Slowly CJ strolled forward, her hands still behind her back, "Oh yes."

His face then darkened, her blue eyes watching him carefully moving towards his pocket, "You shouldn't be here. It's not safe for Americans…"

"Why not?"

She watched the man's hand still loom over his pocket, assuming he was contemplating taking his gun out. He then laughed slightly, responding, "There's a lot of people…whom don't like your kind. A lot of people…who would want to hurt you."

"And would you be one of them?"

The man choked practically as he turned around to see Gunnar towering over him, having little time to react as CJ hit the man in the back of his head with her fists. He fell hard onto the ground as she quickly pinned him down, taking out her gun and pointing it to his face. The once confident look on his face fell as a gun was pointed at him and Gunnar stood behind her with his own gun now aimed at him.

"Pl-please, don't hurt me!" The man begged.

Cocking her gun, CJ demanded his cooperation, which he promised he would give. She then asked what he knew about the rebellion, at first shaking his head in refusal. The tip of her gun was then pressed against his forehead, her calmly stating, "You're not doing very well so far."

His lower lip quivered in fear, words stuttering out, "They…they meet at a bar called _La Tortuga Sedienta." _

"The Thirsty Turtle?" CJ raised her eyebrow and then shook her head, "Have you been there!"

"Only once. A couple of weeks ago. I went with a friend and they put a bag over my head because I'm not in the rebellion yet."

CJ, with her gun still pointed at his forehead, turned to Gunnar to request the picture he had of Lacy. His eyes never left the native's as he handed the female the picture it being brought in front of the other man's eyes, "Have you seen her there?"

His eyes squinted to focus before nodding, "Y-Yes. She was crying and…the rebellion was bragging they had captured an American. She was crying, but essentially unharmed. Please don't hurt me."

CJ turned back around to Gunnar as he took out his walkie talkie to inform Ross of the information they had just learned. The conversation was quick as the two turned back to the native. Clearly he was scared considering two guns were pointed in his face and the blonde was at least a foot taller than him. Gunnar had killed many men in his lifetime and from what he saw CJ was quick with the trigger as well, but neither felt they necessarily had a grounded reason to kill him. Rather the two left the young man that day tied to a pole with duck tape over his mouth.


	19. Chapter 19

TC Stark: I'm so so so so sorry! I feel so damn ashamed for taking so long for updating. I've been literally working five days a week for the past month, flooded with projects, and on top of it my great grandmother just passed away last week. I've literally been working on this chapter for the past three weeks. So, yes it will take me a while in between chapters, but if you guys promise not to give up on me I promise that you will not be disappointed. Thank you again to all my loyal followers I won't let you down.

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter Nineteen

Barney Ross had just gotten off the phone with Gunnar when he informed Lee Christmas of the new development. He had heard from the other members of his team who had little pieces of information, but none that was so informative like Gunnar's. It was enough to lift his own spirits up, knowing that at least she was alive.

When he thought about it, Ross had a good team. They all had different contributing factors to offer his team. And what a card of characters who wouldn't give up their life for anything. In the beginning he had called them teammates and now he called them friends. When he had made it his mission to help out the country of Vilena each and every one of them stepped up to help. And just like before, everyone was doing their share to make sure Lacy was ok.

The two Expendables were currently residing in a bar after a very unsuccessful night. Ross had tried desperately to ask whomever they ran into questions yet no one seemed eager to talk to him. The Englishman had become discouraged during the night, hence why they were drinking at a bar. The news of Lacy having been spotted only seemed to cheer him up a little. Besides that he stayed quiet and very much to himself.

His friend could only sit and watch the other sip on his beer and watch his spirit drop, "God, what the fuck are they doing to her?"

"You can't think like that."

"I can't help it."

It was frustrating for two men who were use to nonstop action to be sitting and wondering. Thinking was only done on the way to a mission and sometimes thinking was done while in the heat of battle. It was also weird for them to not be confident in themselves. Barney certainly felt weird. On trips he tried to be as confident as possible no matter what the circumstances were. Yet now he was sitting in a bar not feeling very confident at all. Damn, Lee was really affecting him.

After another sip of his beer, the dark haired man calmly explained, "We know where the rebellion hangs out. All we need is to find it."

Still there was no look of the slightest bit of hope in Lee's eyes, his friend becoming slightly frustrated, "Listen, Lee, I know you're upset, but we're all putting in more effort into this than you are."

"That's bullshit," He retorted angrily, "I'm putting just as much effort into this."

"No, you're not. Who were the ones who got this tip? Gunnar and CJ. Hale, Toll, and Ying are out there right now looking for Lacy. We're the only ones sitting in a bar wallowing in beer."

"It's really hard, Ross."

"You don't think we know that?"

Lee grumbled underneath his breath, not feeling up for arguing with Ross at that moment. Instead he just hailed over the bartender, "Another round."

Barney sighed, cracking his neck, "Well, all this waiting around is irritating me."

Lee knew that his friend was pissed off. Frankly he was pissing himself off. Who was he? This wasn't him at all. The mere thought of Lacy being hurt changed him into this sappy weighed down man. Running his hand over his bald head, he took one more sip of his beer before sliding off his barstool, "Alright, you know what, my ass is getting numb."

"Barney?"

Sweet words ran through Barney's ear, turning around to see who had called his name. And just like the first time she entered his life, Sandra looked radiant walking through the doors of the bar. His dark eyes fixed on her long olive legs guiding her towards him, her hair swaying with the faint breeze. She looked genuinely happy to see him; a warm feeling embracing what he thought was a cold heart.

"Sandra?"

"Barney, are you really here?"

"Heh, yes I am."

"I thought…I'd never see you again."

Ross couldn't help but smile, "It's…really good to see you."

Her white smile was large as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I've gotten your letters."

In the presence of Lee, Ross found himself sheepish as she turned to the bald man to greet, "Hello, Lee."

The Brit couldn't help but think she did look pretty, nodding to her. He couldn't bring himself to be too excited to see her, although he knew his friend was. He guessed she could feel his distress as she frowned, "You two aren't here for pleasure. What are you here for?"

The two men locked gazes, "We're looking for someone."

Sandra ordered herself a drink as Ross explained everything to her. Sighing, it really upset her to hear such news. After her father's death she thought she had been doing well in fixing up her country. The people seemed happier, the laws were fair, and people were free to do what they wished. Now, right under her nose a rebellion was being formed to continue the terrible work her father had started.

"How could I be so blind?"

"You have a country to run; it's not your fault."

"Have you heard of this bar?" Lee finally asked after turning from his beer.

She took a sip of her own beverage before replying, "It sounds familiar. Ever since you left I've been very preoccupied. I don't get out much. I can ask my committee if they have heard of any rebellion. And if you'd like I can send out a search party."

"I'd really appreciate it."

Sandra placed her hand on his arm and looked at the Englishman seriously, "We will find her. You men have done so much for my country. You will achieve what you set out to find here."

The two nodded as she offered to take the two back to her house though they both declined. It was a nice offer, but they were on a mission. And both knew that the longer they took the more they risked anymore harm being done to Lacy. Lee though had stepped to the bathroom to give Barney and Sandra more time.

Sipping on her cup of tea, Sandra smiled warmly, "You are one great man, Barney; helping out Lee like this."

"Lee's my best friend; I'd do anything for him."

"Well, I know…that you're not here for friendly business," She gave out a light laugh, "But, it is so good to see you."

Hearing this only made him happier in the dark situation they were trapped in, reaching over to touch her hand, "You're doing a wonderful job for this country. But, how are _you _doing?"

"Good, actually. My father wasn't always an evil man and I do have many fond memories of him when I was a child. He just became overwhelmed with power and suddenly was so blind sighted he forgot who he use to be. I am not sad that the man you knew is gone because the man I knew had died a long time ago," She took in a bit of a breath before smiling again, "But, I am surrounded by friends and people who look up to me. I no longer live in fear, rather I enjoy every day I can. I even…met someone."

Sandra couldn't help but laugh when Barney had let out a small cough at the news. He hadn't really expected her to say something like that, her deciding to explain to fill the silence, "It's very new and we don't see each other often because of how busy we both are. But, he makes me smile and he is wonderful."

"Well…then I am happy for you." He replied, scratching the back of his neck.

It seemed very convenient that at that moment Lee had emerged from the bathroom, deciding he had given his friend enough time to catch up with Sandra. Clearing his throat, the Englishman placed his hand on Ross's back, "Time to get going, mate."

"Right."

"I wish you two the best of luck. Do not lose hope, Lee."

Lee nodded shortly, making his way out of the bar as Ross stood up to bid the beautiful woman goodbye. She wrapped her thin arms around him, taking in his scent. They had known each other for such a short period of time yet she felt she had known him her whole life. She then placed her hand on his chest and made sure he was looking directly into his eyes, "You will find what you are looking for in life, Barney. Goodbye."


	20. Chapter 20

TC Stark: So, I just received my copy of The Expendables in the mail the other day and decided to watch it again today. Thus, I got the inspiration and motivation to write this chapter. Hope you like ^^ Also, as always if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 20

"_La Tortuga Sediente _is located underground, just below the center of the city."

Not too long after Ross and Lee said their goodbyes to Sandra did they run into a messenger looking for them on her behalf. It was then they had rallied everyone together to her new palace. It was nothing compared to the empire her father had built for himself; it was modest and beautiful. It was just large enough for her to live comfortably and to have town meetings in. Besides that, there were no large pillars or paintings of herself hanging on the walls nor were there any pools.

Apparently one of Sandra's informant's had recently found out where the rebellion hideout was and had let her know upon her arrival. She wouldn't dare find this information out without letting the men who once saved her homeland know. So as soon as the whole crew had arrived she offered them drinks and laid out a map of Vilena on a table.

The men hurdled around her as she pointed out where her informant had let her know where the hideout was. She showed them where secret passage ways were in order to get to the place and all it's different directions. They would have to split up and use extreme caution not to be seen nor heard. They wanted to use the element of surprise when it came to the rebellion, to pounce on them when they least expected it.

"There's three ways to get to the hideout," Sandra explained, "So you're going to have to split up."

"But, once you get to the hideout, it's quite large that way if you want to split up individually." The informant added.

Ying scooped out the map, shaking his head, "Why would there be such a large hole underground that went unnoticed?"

Sandra's informant explained, "At the beginning of the 20th century it was used for mining to see if Vilena had any natural resources. Not much was found and it had long been abandoned. Considering how much of a mess it was, no one had bothered to fix it up considering there were other problems we were facing. I suppose…the rebellion took advantage of our ignorance."

"Either way we'll get in there."Lee stated viciously.

"Keep a level head," Ross commanded, "We'll get in there. But, we need to be careful. We're talking about something underground; we can't be setting off any explosions."

Hale folded his arms defeated, "No fun."

Gunnar snickered, folding his own arms, "No blowing shit up; got it."

"So, we'll stay to hand guns." Ross nodded his head.

Taking out his switch blade, Lee almost granted himself to smile, "Blades get the job done and don't blow anything up."

Toll Road rolled his eyes as he could see the competition brewing in Ross and Lee's eyes, "We can also put silencers on our guns."

"But, then we'll have to be too close of range in order to get an accurate shot."

While the Expendables tried to decide what would be the best strategy to take out the rebellion and save Lacy, CJ sat perched in one of the pick up trucks outside of the palace. She was currently sitting Indian style with all of their firearms in front of her. She had stayed for the beginning of the explanation before taking it upon herself to reload all of the weapons. They needed to stay picking up the pace, fearful that the rebellion might grow impatient and kill off the beautiful woman.

While reloading the guns, she took the liberty of sticking some in an artillery belt and one in each boot of hers. Considering she was a girl who could kick ass, she knew her strength couldn't rival the men she hung around and therefore slipped on some fingerless gloves with brass knuckles embedded. She planned on being able to stand on her own against these rebels and not get her ass kicked.

"So, you heard no explosives right?"

Her blue eyes shifted up to see Gunnar strolling towards her, a hand tucked in one of his pants pocket, "Aw, no fun."

He chuckled, remembering Hale had had the same reaction. She then handed him a large handgun which he stuck in his pants. He then shifted through the other weapons, taking whatever he felt necessary, "You gonna be alright?"

CJ nodded, her eyes concentrating on the weapons, "I'll admit, I've never taken on something like this, but you never know until you try."

In a way Gunnar wanted to urge the young female to stay back and leave this mission to them. Though he knew that would only insult her and make her believe he didn't view her as an equal. In reality he was only thinking about her safety. He had seen many of his friends come and go during the heat of battle no matter how well they had planned a strategy out. And if they weren't killed, all of them had gotten beaten pretty badly and he simply didn't want to see that happening to her.

"I'm thinking about getting a new car when we get back."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, tilting his head, "Oh, yea? What kind?"

She then shrugged while laughing, "Something nice yet not too noticeable."

"You should get a bike." He teased.

Laughing, she then leaned against the back of the truck before commenting, "And you're worried about me now?"

Gunnar chuckled and shook his head before locking eyes with the redhead. She looked beautiful, even though he knew she was ready to go into the heat of battle. Before every battle you had to come to terms that there was a chance you may not make it back. He learned that lesson when Ross had shot him in attempt of saving Ying. Though he had survived, there was a point as he laid on the ground that he thought he was really going to die.

"Y'know, CJ, when we get back from this…I'd like to take you out to dinner."

CJ stopped, blinking her eyes. They stared at each other for a moment in silence, her body still. He was afraid suddenly that he had become too bold and now suddenly rejection was the scariest thought. But then her eyes lit up as a big white smile crossed her face and she spoke sincerely, "I'd really like that."

Gunnar now felt happier than he had in a long time, not being able to reveal in his joy as the Expendables suddenly came out to the truck. His face turned serious as did hers as Ross nodded over to CJ, "You go with Lee, Gunnar, you're with me, Ying with Toll, and Hale, you alright by yourself?"

Hale almost rolled his eyes and scoffed, picking up one of the firearms lying in the truck, "All I need me is one of these babies and everything is right with the world."

Toll shot Ross a glare as he chuckled before they all headed out. The first three groups were to start heading in at the same time while Hale would lay back and wait for a signal to move closer. The three entrances started on all different sides of the town, each entrance looking as if it had long been forgotten. CJ coughed as Lee opened up a dusty shaft, heading in first with his gun in front of him. The girl then followed him, her own firearm extended, putting on her info red glasses on the count of there being no light.

"Will you take her back after this?" CJ whispered as they swiftly made their way through the narrow entrance.

Lee snorted, keeping his gaze straight, "We shouldn't be talking about that right now."

Rolling her eyes, she stopped the Englishman by turning him around as he confronted her angrily, "What."

"Stop being so closed off," She stood firmly, her shoulders back, "I see now why she felt so distant from you. Look at you, Lee, you never let the world in."

"You don't know me." He snarled.

The weapons distributor folded her arms before sticking her chin up, "I've gotten to know you and right now I could possibly die next to you. How can I even trust you with my life?"

Lee stared down at the younger girl for a moment, breathing heavily through his nose. He could feel his hands clench as he tried to calm down, "It's complicated. I loved her and she left me for someone who was no good."

"Perhaps because she felt closed off to you. But, obviously…she loves you. I just hope after all this you can lighten up a little."

CJ left the lecture at that, pointing her gun in front of her before leading the way. He had to admit he wasn't CJ's biggest fans, but perhaps that was because he hadn't allowed himself to get closer to anyone besides his fellow mercenaries. Perhaps he had only thought he was showing Lacy all of his love when in reality perhaps he wasn't letting her in at all. The bald man sighed as he stuck his own firearm out, only knowing he wanted to get Lacy out of here.

The entrance way began to open up as now light was filling the room, the two taking off their goggles. Now it seemed that they were in what resembled more of a hallway of a building rather than a narrow passage way. They were able to stand up comfortably and not feel trapped. Still they were on guard as they walked further in, covering all sides. For a rebellion they had no security, would it really be that easy?

They soon found out how "easy" it would be as suddenly a rebel jumped out from around a corner, quickly landing his fist onto CJ's cheek. She moved back quickly as one of Lee's blades found a new home in man's neck. Instantly he was gagging on his own blood as the girl recovered to yank the blade out of his neck and roundhouse kick him to the ground. He made a last ditch effort to attack her before she quickly landed a bullet in between his temple.

The two bodies breathed as CJ wiped the blood seeping from her cheek. It stung like hell; though with her ex-boyfriend it was something she had become accustomed to. It had been a sensation she hadn't felt for years and it stunned her for a moment, Lee moving closer, "You alright?"

Snapping out of her daze, she nodded while loading her gun, "I'm sure there'll be more where he came from; I was a tad stupid for firing off my gun."

"Bound to happen sooner or later."

"Why don't we split up? We'll cover more ground that way."

Lee raised an eyebrow, the other nodding to reassure him that she would be alright. They then went their separate ways, CJ doing her best to quiet her steps. As she moved in closer, she could hear start to hear voices. They had to be the rebellion considering they were speaking in Spanish. At this she started to move faster, though careful to keep quiet.

Her eyes looked around the corner to see what looked like an underground bar. It was actually quite spacious, a decent sized bar with dim lights, a pool table, a card table, and even a TV. There were several men chatting and drinking, laughing. She raised an eyebrow while scanning around the area, trying to see any woman in distress. She found nothing. CJ narrowed her eyes, holding her finger on the trigger. It was then she noticed what almost looked like a closet, praying to God that Lacy was alive in that closet.

As luck would have it, there was a shot out on the distance, her guessing it was one of the boys having just been attacked. She guessed that the attack was closer to the bar that all the men snapped up from their chairs, knocking some over. A handful of the men dashed out of the room, leaving two to watch over their space.

Her eyes scanned out the two men standing in her way; average height and average built with pathetic looking guns. She could almost laugh, people really didn't put any effort into a craft anymore. Cracking her neck, she made the first shot to one of the men's head, watching him instantly fall. The other man was quick in reacting as he shot a bullet in her direction. Thankfully she was quick enough to ducked back behind the corner.

Taking in a deep breath, she rolled out from the corner while firing a shot. _Damn. _She had missed as the man gave out a yell before lunging out for her. She bounced up to her feet before smacking the gun out of his hand, blocking a jab from her left. CJ then ducked down to jab into the man's stomach, watching him curl in pain. The man was all too distracted holding his stomach as she punched him hard across his cheek.

"Stupid bitch!" He coughed out, blood spurting out of his mouth.

Somehow the rebel had grabbed a hold of her full red hair, CJ snarling, "Fucking pussy."

In a quick swift she delivered another blow to his face, feeling her body being grappled down to the ground. She growled as he was trying to pin her down by his weight, making himself heavy. Now, it wasn't the coyest move in the book, but she really would have liked to end this fight before her hair was messed up anymore. So, CJ pummeled the rebel in his balls hard with her knee before quickly slashing his throat with a knife she pulled out from her bra.

With both rebels now dead, CJ picked herself up off the floor before dusting herself off. She almost got lost in trying to make sure she looked alright before snapping back. Mentally crossing her fingers, the redhead dashed over to the closet, going to grab the doorknob before discovering it was locked. She then growled, fed up before kicking the doorknob off with her steel toe boots,

A wave of relief came over her as she saw the girl from the picture Gunnar showed her tied up on a chair in the small closet. Her hair was damp and sticking to her face. She had a black eye and a busted lip, but beside that she didn't seem to be beaten up too bad. Where most of the damage was done was her arms, observing the dark bruises that she must have gotten from the rebels rough handling her.

Still, she looked beautiful as CJ tore the blindfold off of her, the beaten girl gasped through tear filled eyes, "P-Please, don-don't hurt me!"

"Are you Lacy!"

Her head nodded as CJ smiled warmly, untying her from the chair before picking her up and embracing Lacy. Instantly the brunette broke down on the redhead's shoulder, hugging the strange girl tightly. While the girl cried, she could only smile and hug her back, "It's ok, Lacy, Lee's here."


	21. Chapter 21

TC Stark: I wanna thank all of my faithful reviewers, especially new reviewer WatchingCat. Thank you so much for taking the time out to review each chapter. IT really pushed me to get this one out. Now, I may not be the biggest fan of Lacy, but it seemed to make Lee all emotional during the movie and I thought it'd be a good catalyst for the story. As for CJ and Gunnar, I'm glad everyone loves them together ^^ Now, I was thinking about making the next chapter the last one. BUT, I am _really _interested in writing a sequel. I love writing CJ and I love writing this movie, I couldn't stand ending it now. I do have ideas about what I wanna write for the sequel, but I'd like to get your ideas. What would you like to see in the sequel? And what should the title be? Keep reading! Lol

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 21

CJ knew that Lacy was scared and there was nothing more she needed now than a shoulder to lean on. The thing was though that they weren't in the clear just yet and the redhead needed to get the two of them out of there. She had no idea how the boys were doing but no doubt she had made some commotion killing all those rebels. It was only a matter of time before even more came running to where they were.

Cupping her gloved hand into the lovely girl's hand, CJ dragged Lacy out of the closet and out of the bar area. She knew Lee's girl was exhausted and hurt, but they'd be dead if they didn't pick up the speed. The two were breathing heavily as they dashed out, CJ suddenly pushing the other girl to the ground as a man swung towards the side of her head. Quickly she pushed his arm out of the way, landing her fist square into his nose.

Like she had feared there were more where he came from, hearing Lacy scream as she shot a man in the head that was coming after her. Not a second afterwards did she pull another man over the shoulder to land hard onto the ground, quickly getting him into a head lock. Lacy had to look away as CJ snapped the man's neck with all her might.

They only had a second as the redhead grabbed the other's hand, pulling her along with her. As they ran, Lacy breathed, "Who are you!"

"CJ," She turned her head briefly and smirked, "Expert weapons distributor. Let's chat later, shall we?"

The brunette nodded as they continued to run, rounding a corner as CJ pulled out a knife in preparation for the body they ran into, "CJ! Stop, it's me!"

The two girls stopped as suddenly Lacy's eyes filled with tears, "Lee!"

Even amongst all the commotion, Lee couldn't help but stand still in the presence of his girl. She seemed so relieved to see him, wrapping her frail arms around his neck. God, it felt good to smell her scent once again; to wrap his arms around her. And as much as he wanted to just stay there with her, he could smell how scared she was and suddenly he became angry. He was furious; outraged that someone could ever do this to her.

His arms held her shoulders, gently pulling her away from him, "I'm going to kill them."

Biting her lower lip, Lacy nodded, "I know you are."

"CJ," He then turned to the other girl, "Go cover the left passageway, I just came from the right, and the others were in the center one. Meet us on the outside, clear anyone who gets in your path."

"Don't needa say that twice." She smirked before sprinting away.

It was really nice and refreshing to see Lacy and Lee reunite, making the 25-year-old feel as if the world was somewhat back in order. Now all they needed to do was concentrate on getting the hell out of here and things would be nearly perfect. It had been so long since CJ had been in love, she didn't even know she had ever loved Roy or if he was just someone whom seemed perfect to her in her drug induced state.

Sure, she had said she had loved the heroin addict and they had lived together for about two years, but had she loved him? They had done drugs together, watch TV together, fight together, fuck each other, and even watched his daughter together. But, when it got bad it got bad and she didn't know if she had even loved or knew who she was back then. A woman who had abandoned everything which was her life until she was 15 to give it all to drugs. Roy never held the door open for her, never bought her nice things, never told her she was beautiful, and never…took her out to dinner.

As she continued to dash, a smile crossed on her face. She hoped that Gunnar would keep his word about taking her out, it'd be nice to go out with the taller man. He was a man she could not tire of and do just about anything with. He wasn't trying to change her or even judge her like others had before, rather accept her for who she was and see who she could be.

Rounding a corner, she was suddenly flipped onto her back as pain surged through her spine. CJ grunted while slamming her fists down on the ground, _fuck that hurt_. She wasn't able to breathe very well as suddenly a large body slammed down on top of her, pinning her wrists down, "Stupid American, who do you think you are! Coming to our home, telling us how to live our lives!" He sneered into her face.

CJ coughed as she narrowed her eyes, "Jesus, ever hear of fucking toothpaste?"

Her smart remark landed her a jab into the face, coughing out blood, "Stupid woman, you fucking pussy."

"Bet you haven't even seen one, fucking cocksucker."

Her comment and the fact she spat in his face only angered the man even more, the man wrapping his hands around olive skinned neck. As it became harder to breathe, CJ began to kick her feet around in attempts to get the man off her. But, with her airway being cut off, she was becoming weak and it was near impossible for her to even try to get the man off her.

Blue eyes looking at the ceiling, she knew there had to be some way to get out of this situation alive. Maybe that type of thinking was just the lack of air traveling to her brain. She felt lightheaded, almost euphoric. Shaking her head, she needed not to get lost in her thoughts and to try and get this mother fucker off of her!

Finally she was able to cough out some air as the rebel's hands let go of her neck. CJ snapped her blue eyes open to see Gunnar holding the man high above his head with a grin, "Why, hello, beautiful."

"I would've gotten him off." She smirked playfully.

_Sure. _He mouthed as he easily threw the man to the ground, stomping his steel toed boot into the rebel's face. CJ winced only for a moment before she jumped up, the blonde stepping aside, "After you, lil' lady."

The two began to jet out, CJ grinning from ear to ear, "I found Lacy!"

"Yea, Lee let me know over walkie talkie." He shouted back as the two hurried along.

"Kickass!"

The two laughed as they made their way out of the underground passageway, seeing Ying standing outside armed. As they ran over to the Asian man, he brought his own walkie talkie to his lips, "They're here, Ross."

"Got it, drop the bomb."

"I thought we weren't using any bombs?" CJ raised an eyebrow.

The two men just smirking as they both dropped in two cans with the picture of a skull on them. It was then she caught on with a confident smirk, "Poisonous gas, huh?"

"Anyone who was left is now gone." Ying commented.

CJ still kept her hands near her gun, eying the passageway. There was really no way of getting out of the situation the remaining rebels were now in, but just in case she wanted to be ready. The three eyed the entrance for a good ten minutes before some of the locals had volunteered to run in to make sure the cost was clear. Everyone stood watch, ready in case anything was going to happen.

The cost seemed clear as Sandra's men came out safely, declaring everyone dead. The rest of the Expendables gathered to where the three were standing, Gunnar smiling to see Lacy was finally okay. Ross was smiling as well, the lot of them doing an obviously good job. Lacy then was taken to the local hospital by Sandra's men for her injuries to be checked out, Lee making sure to ride along with them.

Barney looked around, observing his comrades didn't look too beat up, patting Hale's back, "Good job, guys. Seriously."

"All in a day's work." CJ giggled confidently.

"Less we forget CJ's handy work." The older man teased.

The group then dispersed after that; knowing they wouldn't be leaving until the next day. Sandra was very kind as to provide them with sleeping quarters for the night in her palace while Lacy was being treated for her wounds. Some of the men wanted to just jump into bed and sleep until the next days while others wanted to take advantage of Sandra's kindness and free food.

Gunnar at that point was kicking it back in the room he was given, his strong arms resting behind his head. He was trying to decide what channel to settle on, close to giving up considering they were all in Spanish. After landing on a Spanish dubbed episode of _Everybody Hates Chris, _the blonde's ears perked up by a sudden knocking at her door.

Muting the TV, he stood up from the very comfortable bed to open the door to see a grinning CJ in front of him. With a smirk he folded his arms and leaned against the door frame, "And what can I do for you?"

"Let's go explore the city."


	22. Chapter 22

TC Stark: So I know it's been a while since I've added, this is alas the last chapter of the story. I wanted to make sure it was just perfect ^^ Don't fret; I do plan on making a sequel because I'm not done with CJ just yet. I love writing her character. But, I'd like to get everyone's opinion about what you'd like to see in the sequel? What should the main conflict be? And what should I name it? Lemme know! And thank you everyone for being such amazing reviewers, you've been amazing to me.

Disclaimer: I only own CJ

Chapter 22

In order to try and repay _The Expendables _for all they had done, Sandra had a breakfast spread available for the men when they woke up. A huge spread of all different types of pastries and fruit and juices were laid out in front of them. They were big men with big appetites, immediately going in to devour the food in front of them. It was the least she could do; after all she never got to thank them properly the first time.

Not only did she lay out a spread fit for kings, she also provided handsome sleeping arrangements. It wasn't the usual luxury she provided for herself, but she figured this was something they deserved. And she was pretty sure it wasn't something they were entirely use to. She really couldn't imagine a group of very large masculine men lounging around in terrycloth robes.

"Sandra, you didn't need to do this." Ross turned gratefully.

She was mid bite before smiling warmly, "Think of it, as a gift."

The two smiled at each other before going back to their food, watching Toll and Hale fighting over a breakfast pastry, "You've had like fucking five!"

"They're good!" Hale defended, "Besides, you already got enough food on your plate."

"I'm a growing boy, you're big enough."

The others laughed as Gunnar turned to see CJ chewing one of the breakfast pastries hungrily, "Now, I thought you didn't like breakfast?" He teased.

Rolling her blue eyes, she smiled back at him, "Well, it's not your typical eggs and pancakes."

The blonde smiled warmly as he sipped on his coffee, remembering when the beautiful young girl made him breakfast the morning of their first intimate encounter. And even though what laid before them was fit for kings, he couldn't help but think he'd rather CJ's breakfast over any of this any time. At least in the privacy of her home he would be able to kiss the cook.

It was then that Lee Christmas entered the room. He of course looked a little stressed, but overall relieved. He had after all survived Vilena again and had rescued the woman who made such an impact on him. There was no telling what would happen to them after this, but at least he was able to spare her life.

He sat down in the vacant chair before going to work on the food in front of him, Ross patting the Englishman's head, "How's she doing?"

"She's healing, luckily there's no internal bruising or anything. She's going to be fine."

The older one nodded while turning back to the beautiful Latin woman, "This is all beautiful. The palace; the city."

Warmly smiling, she answered, "I told you, this was a beautiful place. And one day it would be again."

Ross smiled back, feeling good inside. He felt as if, he had saved a bit of his soul. In a way Sandra was like the daughter he never had. Before his eyes was a beautiful young woman who deserved nothing more to have a good life and to live a free life. To bow down to no man and to answer to no one. He liked to think if he ever had a daughter that he'd feel the same way towards her. It felt good that after killing so many, he could save someone.

The next day, the _Expendables _headed back to the states. Just like the first time, the departure was bitter sweet. Looking into Sandra's eyes, Ross would have liked nothing more than to stay on the island of Vilena with her. But, he had a life in America and felt he could never abandon his team. Sure, the island was beautiful and he viewed Sandra as a daughter, but sooner or later she would grow up and be an even stronger independent woman with no need for him. It was better to leave a hero than watch himself burn out.

Two weeks had then passed since their arrival back. They hadn't seen much of Lee since then, probably wanting to make sure Lacy was doing alright. Tool hadn't taken any new jobs in that time, giving his men time to relax and enjoy life before diving back in. That was important in these men's line of duty, they couldn't just go off every moment and become killing machines. They had to remember that they were human.

It was Saturday night as the boys all gathered in the tattoo shop. Smooth rock music played as the men played darts and watched TV. Everyone seemed to be having a good time; there was good music playing, a good game on, and just good friends. Who really could ask for more in life? Well in Tool's perfect world there would be women walking around half naked constantly. But, in the minds of the other men life was pretty much perfect now.

"How's that pretty little lady of yours, Lee?" The eccentric man asked while bringing the beer bottle up to his lips.

Swigging back his own beer, the Englishman smiled, "Very well I must say. She's pretty much healed fully."

"You guys get to the busy work yet?" He smirked with a wink, causing Lee to roll his eyes and walk away.

"Do you ever think of anything else?" Ying questioned.

Leaning back confidently, Tool replied, "Well, the boy may be a little rusty, just wanted to see if he needed a few tips from the expert."

The men whistled and laughed as Ross raised an eyebrow, "You're an expert?"

Tool nodded as if his friend had asked an idiotic question, Gunnar chiming in, "I don't know, Tool, I haven't seen any lady around here since we've gotten back. I think you might be losing your touch."

This caused an even louder commotion, leaving Tool stunned. Didn't these boys know he could run circles around them? Oh, he'd have to teach them all a lesson. For now he went back to smoking his fight, all of the men amused at how frustrated he obviously was. But, it was all in good fun. In their line of work you never knew when one of your teammates might get killed in the line of duty. Certainly they have seen plenty come and go.

Lee had landed a pocket knife dead in the middle of the dart board, smirking over to his friendly rival, "Well, Tool, on that note, I shall be taking my leave."

The boys all groaned, "And where do you think you're going?" Gunnar asked.

"I have a date with Lacy."

Obviously the boy was in love as he smiled his way out of the garage, ignoring his friends playful badgering. He knew though in reality his friends were all really happy for him, it was about time they had gotten back together. Maybe what they needed was that dramatic experience in order to bring them back together, trying to pick up where they left off and try and fix the problems which had caused her to go astray in the first place.

An hour then went by when Gunnar looked at his own watch, Hale eying him, "What's wrong? You got a bus to catch or something?"

Gunnar chuckled, standing up while cracking his back, "Well, boys, I should be getting going as well."

"And where are _you _going?"

As the ex junkie slung his leather jacket over his shoulder, he turned around with a smirk, "Out on a date with CJ."

TC Stark: Alright, people, what did you think of the final chapter? And keep posted for the sequel!


End file.
